Always Gold
by recklessfreedom
Summary: Dear Mr. Alcibur, high school sucks...Graduation can't come quick enough. /...this is the story of Massie and Derrick, and this is how it ends./The Pretty Committee and the BriarWood boys enter junior year unknown to the events that would make them, break them, and define who they really were inside. "I'd like to think we're the breakfast club but more nicely dressed."
1. Summer, Change, and Barbecue

**SOOO. I haven't done this in a while but got inspiration to write by TLAT (the Life and Times) which I strongly suggest anybody and everybody to read if they are big Harry Potter (or even bigger James and Lily fans) to read. I got a lot of inspiration from that and I hope that this first chapter doesn't too strongly resemble it because I did get a lot of inspiration from it.**

 **Ugh, I love it so so so so so so so much.**

 **Anyways, I thought that I'd write again. I did write something from the clique before but this time I wanted to do something differnent , and I do hope to please.**

 **I don't own the Clique but I do own this story so tada enjoy!**

 **:) :) :) :) :) :) :)**

* * *

Chapter One

Summer, Change, and Barbecue.

 _Dear Mr._ Alcibur,

 _High school sucks._

 _I didn't think that the start of junior year would...well, start off sucking so bad. I'm also sorry if this language isn't right for an English paper. This probably won't do me too well considering the fact that this is the first grade of the year, but I really don't care._

 _It's only the fourth day, you're giving me work and there's already drama._

 _I would have stayed in London if I knew something like this was going to happen._

 _I don't know if you know how things work around here in the Westchester community. If you don't... then you're the lucky one here._

 _Westchester reeks of the constant need to please simple minded people that won't matter in five years or so. The same it is in high school and it's much worse here at Westchester prep. I mean honestly, you could probably tell this place was horrible the day you walked in. From the high strung girls to the ass hole (sorry) boys, it's like hell. I would have rather stuck my head on the pikes on the tower of London then come back here. I'm starting to wish I did..._

 _Anyways, it all started at my parent's yearly end-of-the-summer barbecue. My parents, of course, get someone to cater a shit ton (again, so sorry) of barbecue and play music while they entertain their business partners, Westchester Club House ladies, politicians, and what not. Of course us "kids" in their eyes go around and swim in the pool and hang out by the fire and picnic by the trees, careful not to disturb any of our parents or the other higher up Westcehster officials._

 _I usually enjoy myself._

 _My parents leave me alone with my friends, and I leave them alone with their prospects. It's all well and done._

 _But considering the huge falling out the end of sophomore year with the soccer boys, I should have known that the whole thing was going to end badly..._

* * *

Massie Block rummaged through her belongings. All 4 brown leathery large Louis Vuitton rolling luggage bags lay to the side of the white pristine carpets that Massie had missed so so much.

 _It's good to be home._

London was fascinating. London was grand.

From the Big Ben to Buckingham Palace, the London Eye all the way to the infamous Tower of London...Massie had a great time away from all the Westchester drama she was accustomed to as queen bee and alpha to the Pretty Committee. Four years later and they were still calling themselves that, Massie mused to her self as she twirled light honey brown locks through her fingertips.

She tapped her fingers on the white desk and stared down at a golden picture frame.

Between the frames was a picture of Massie, Alicia, Dylan, Kristen, and Claire the beginning of freshman year. They had just removed themselves from the Briarwood boys, cutting all ties and relationships. That was the summer they had all bonded. That was the summer Massie missed the most. She smiled fondly and bit her lip. Oh, did she miss it.

Massie's hair was a lot darker and more natural (that was before she discovered the addiction to hair dye) and her smile was wide and innocnet. Alicia had her arm wrapped around Massie's neck and the Spanish beauty smiled that same seductive smile she had back then that stayed the same even now.

God, Alicia was always so perfect.

Dylan stuck her tongue out while Kristen winked at the camera, not so seductively but in a humorous way that Kristen always seemed to have when the usually uppity sporty blonde babe wasn't doing anything school related. Not many probably guessed, but when Kristen let loose she was the undeniably the most care free out of all of them. Too bad she always had her nose in a book.

Then there was Claire.

Massie had missed her so much.

Claire's blonde hair was pin straight and her hair was clipped back at the sides. She was even more innocent then than she was now. Claire smiled her usual comforting smile, with all the kindness in those baby blue eyes.

"Massie?"

Speak of the devil...or angel in Claire's case.

"Claire!" Massie turned around, wearing a big grin on her face.

"Mass I can't believe it's you!" Claire made her way to the other side of the room where the PC alpha stood.

The two girls embraced, both wearing a smile that spread from ear to ear.

"Oh please Claire, you act as if I went off to war," Massie rolled her eyes as the two girls pulled away form each other.

"You might as well have," Claire grinnned. "Seriously Mass it's been so boring here with out you."

"I know," Massie winked.

Claire plopped down on the queen sized bed while Massie began to unpack a few things.

"Did Alicia make it home yet?" Massie asked as she pulled out a shimmery red dress that was folded into a perfect square. She eyed it carefully. Why did she ever buy it? Ugh.

"Yeah. Got back last week."

"Here," Massie threw the dress at Claire. "A present."

"Thanks Mass!"

Massie eyed one of her fellow PC members up and down. Claire was tan and had certainly become more toned. Maybe she joined a sport? No, that was so not Claire. Even a month away and she couldn't have changed _that_ much. Maybe she started running. That was probably it. Claire had expressed joining Massie in her morning jogs right before she left for London. The tan was probably from life guarding at the Westchester Community Country Club. Her hair was much lighter, basically a platinum blonde and she seemed a lot more healthier considering all the drama that ensued the end of sophomore year.

But that could be expressed in detail much later on.

After all the unpacking was finished, Massie relaxed on her royal purple sofa chair, pushed all the way back by her dresser where usually there lay heaps of clothing. Outfit picking was a necessity, and a cure.

"So," Massie grinned wickedly. "What have I missed?"

* * *

Kristen Greggory loved the way Dempsey Solomon's lips felt around hers.

His strong hands gripped her hips roughly and lifted her onto his bed. He was so, so strong. Soccer and the work he did in Africa, building houses and what not helped him in that department. His body was toned and tanned and he was just perfect.

Perfect.

Perfect.

Perfect.

"Kris," he groaned, pushing her legs further apart with his knees.

How did she get so lucky?

After all the drama at the end of sophomore year and all the shit she had gone through with Kemp.

Dempsey's lips didn't feel like Kemp's. He was rough and sweet at the same time, while Kemp just shoved his tongue down her mouth and expected her to go along with whatever he wanted. Dempsey gave her what she wanted, while he took what he wanted too. He was perfect for her. Maybe not to the skill level like Kemp was in soccer, yet Dempsey played and Dempsey was damn good at it too.

Dempsey had crisp blonde hair, with wisps of caramel colored streaks that Kristen had grown to admire.

Kemp had brown hair, and no substance to it.

Dempsey had deep army green eyes. How ironic that it befit him so well.

Kemp's eyes were a deep blue, and not all that interesting. Not anymore, at least.

Dempsey had dinner with her family, and she the same.

The only time Kemp and Kristen had dinner together was in a restaurant at least an hour away from Westcehster, where they were likely not to know anybody.

Dempsey held her hand in public.

Kemp spited her in public and had his way with her in private.

All in all, Kemp was shit and Dempsey wasn't.

Kristen smiled as his lips were on her.

They weren't like Kemps' lips. He didn't kiss like Kemp. Not. At. All.

That was a good thing, right?

"Ugh, babe," Dempsey sighed, pushing her legs further and further apart.

Kristen arched her back and sighed happily.

No, he wasn't like Kemp at all.

 _…while Kristen flaunting her budding relationship with Dempsey Solomon in front of everyone's faces (with good reason of course) Kemp flaunted the fact that he had slept with two to four different girls a week at least and had been on so many dates that he had grown accustomed to calling girls "babe" or "doll" instead of their actual names, for the probable fact that he probably didn't even know their names._

 _Kemp and Kristen were the worst kept secret in the last few months of sophomore year._

 _It sucked._

 _It sucked real bad for poor Kristen. She cried on my bed for weeks upon weeks at time at the fact that Kemp had her all the time in secret yet in public they acted like they hated each other. At first, the duo thought it was hot._

 _I mean, come on, every body likes a good chase._

 _But then all of a sudden it wasn't fun anymore._

 _Kemp and Krsiten had gotten really messed up, and nobody noticed except both of their closest friends (the PC and the soccer boys)._

 _They had a huge falling out the second to last week of school in third period._

 _Some girl was flirting with Kemp, and Kristen told her off. In return Kemp told her off and called her crazy. Krstien raged, and in fact, did look pretty crazy. She threw her chemistry book at Kemp's face and revealed their whole little "affair."_

 _To say the least, it didn't end well._

 _The next week after both of their suspensions (which Mr. and Mrs. Greggory did not take lightly) Kemp had two girls stuck to his side and Kristen met Dempsey, one of the hottest Varsity starters in the Valmont Valley Black Hawks soccer team, also known as the Westchester Prep Crusader's rivals._

 _Kemp could hide it all he wanted. It hurt him, a lot._

 _He always thought that Kristen would crawl back to him, and she never did._

 _She still didn't..._

"Loose the skirt and replace with jeans," Alicia eyed Dylan warily. "The shirt's already to much glam especially with the necklace."

Dylan twisted around in front of the mirror in Saks on 5th ave, and sighed. No matter how hard she tried, no matter what clothes she bought and the fiery red head never nearly look as good as Alicia.

While Dylan tried on clothing after clothing, skirt after shirt after skirt, nothing worked on her. Why would it?

Nothing ever did.

Alicia was slumped on the red velvet couch and scrolled through the catalog that rested between her lap.

The Spanish beauty wore jeans and plain nude pumps. A low red tube top fit her nicely. Every single curve of her was just perfect.

It mad Dylan sick.

Alicia was tan.

Dylan was pasty white.

Alicia had dimples, and made even those look _hawt_.

Dylan had freckles, and it only added to the ginger thing.

Alicia's hair was perfect, sleek, dark, beautiful.

Dylan's hair was dyed so it could look fiery and red instead of not the lame washed up orange Velma hair she was naturally born with.

Alicia.

Fuck, even the name was prettier.

"Guess who texted me last night," Alicia gushed, sitting up right.

"Who?" Dylan asked as she slipped the shimmery black top up over her head. She tried on a electric blue dress.

Of course, it clashed with her hair.

Another problem, and no surprise there.

"Landon," Alicia giggled.

"Crane? From Valmont."

"That's the one. The hottie with the body."

Alicia's figners flew across the screen of her iPhone 6, probably texting or tweeting or maybe even both.

"Lucky you..."

Alicia looked up form her phone screen and bit her lip in sympathy. "Dyl..."

Dylan look up at Alicia from the mirror.

The Latina rose and stood next to her.

"Look at you, you're so pretty Dyl I wish you could see it."

"You have to say that," Dylan sighed as she pulled the dress over her head. Another failure.

"No, I don't," Alicia rolled her eyes. "We're the pretty committee and we are known for being honest. Even when we're not so nice about it."

"Yeah but we're friends and even you can't be so harsh as to call me fat."

Alicia grabbed the dress from Dylan's hands. She held it out and scrutinized it.

"Try this in black."

Dylan snatched it form Alicia's grasp. The Latina looked at her with surprise at her suddenness.

"What's the point Leesh. It's not like it's gonna look good anyways."

Alicia rolled her eyes, again. "You're way too hard on yourself. I don't see what the problem is Dyl. You're beautiful you know that."

 _No, no I don't._

"Thanks Leesh but your comforting words won't help me find a back to school outfit any faster."

"We'll hit the mall. We have the whole day."

Alicia phone beeped, signaling a text message.

She reached to grab her phone.

"We're gonna need a whole week to find something for me to wear," Dylan sighed and threw on another dress. It was red. It didn't clash, yet it still didn't look good on Dylan.

Of course, of course, of course.

Alicia suddenly grinned.

Dylan gave her an odd look and slipped out of the dress.

"We're gonna need two if you're going at this rate because we need outfits to the Block end-of-the-summer barbecue!"

Dylan smiled a real smile for once that day.

"Massie's back!"

 _...Mr. Alciber, this is where things get pretty bad._

 _Ugh, I should have known._

 _You see, all of this starts with the bane of my existence._

Derrick Harrington had long wispy golden brown hair. Like a Labrador, he was so commonly associated to with his hair. He had a nice strong jaw line, muscly arms, good skin, white teeth, and a certain air about him that made him perfect.

That was what everybody described him as, anyways...

Derrick Harrington walked like he owned the room, much like another alpha of the different sex.

He laughed a lot with his friends and when he winked at girls, it gave them an even bigger ego boost than getting a lot of likes on instagram.

Derrick was an athlete, and everybody loved an athlete.

In class he leaned back lazily, yet also with an air of profession surrounding him. He rarely paid any attention in class and was always joking around with his friends or doing something on his phone.

All girls loved Derrick. They always did from the beginning of school in Kindergarten to even now.

Derrick Harrington and his band of merry men (Chris, Cam, Josh, Kemp) were the most popular guys at Westchester Prep Academy. They played soccer, and had been the only freshman in the varsity team to be apart of the big win in the state championship of 2012. The five boys were dynamic, a force to be reckoned with.

They mostly threw all of the parties, or were always invited to _thee_ parties. Each boy had something "trade mark" about them, something that made them unique.

While Derrick was clearly the golden boy, Cam was the rebel.

Cam Fisher had dirty blonde hair and his eyes frequently changed color. Blue to green, green to blue. Very indecisive, kinda like Cam himself. He never thought about what he was going to do next, he just did it.

Once Cam was sweet, but events throughout the last two years led him to where he was now. No, Fisher didn't break the law or anything, he was just the hot "bad boy" all girls wanted. He didn't wear dark makeup and didn't frequently brood like Edward Cullen from _Twilight_ , Cam just had that air about him that gave him the "rebel" title. Maybe it was the hand-me-down vintage leather jacket given to him by Harris Fisher, his older and cool brother who passed down all his partying ways and high school tips to the soccer boys.

Josh Hotz, was the smart yet manipulative one in the group. He was described to girls as hot, which was ironic because of his last name. He knew how to make the ladies swoon, as did he also know how to manipulate people into getting what he wanted. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Josh's skills of persuasion helped the soccer boys a lot (getting a key to the old teachers lounge on the 3rd floor, access to the Westchester Country Club pool _at night_ , free food whenever they went to the Diner at Henri's).

He was described as the male version of Alicia Rivera, except he could run and was athletic and it was very much known that the hot Latina could not run and most definitely _not_ athletic in any way, shape, or form.

Kemp was the party animal. He was wild, and rash in his decisions. When it came to any sort of diplomacy and reasoning, well you see there was none when it came to Kemp.

Kemp Hurley was all about parties, women, and booze. He knew nothing else.

Chris Plovert was the kind one in the group. Also a big fan of partying like everyone else, Chris was the humorous one. He cut tension in a room with witty remarks and always had some kind of one liner headed your way in any situation. Chris made people laugh, hell Chris laughed a great deal himself.

He had brown hair, and a certain undeniable charm that made girls eat him up.

All in all the boys were the perfect groups. Athletic, funny, charming, and they loved to party. Every girl wanted to hook up with at least one of them, if not all of them.

But before they were who they were, the infamous Varsity Soccer boys, the hotties, and whatever else people called them...they belonged to the PC and the PC were their girls. They were each others innocent middle school crushes, turned into spiteful ex-friends, turned into friends, turned into more, and now nothing.

There was always tension in the halls when the two groups came about each other.

But the boys were glad to be away from the Pretty Committee for a whole summer, and even more happy to be away at camp at Long Lake, Upstate New York.

It was relaxing and everything the boys wanted was there.

The lake, sports, food, and relaxation. There was something nice about being surrounded by the tall green forest trees, breathing the clear crisp air, and having a nice fire at night.

Of course there were also lake parties, in which the boys participated in. First Chris Plovert founded the camp, and started going with his family about five years ago. Then when the boys were old enough they had their parents drop them off and pick them up. Now all five boys squeezed into Derrick's jeep and adventured through the trails until they came to their second summer home. Long Lake was beautiful and just what they needed.

A whole two weeks of swimming, camp fires, camp girls, parties, and freedom from Westchester drama.

It was amazing.

But school was starting and Long Lake grew smaller and smaller from sight as the boys drove off and headed back home.

"This sucks," Chris sighed.

"Yeah, I don't wanna go back," Josh groaned and slumped back on his seat.

Kemp's head rested on the window and his mouth was wide open, eyes closed, fast asleep.

"I can't believe Hurley's still hung over," Josh mused, indicating towards the sleepy boy next to him.

"No, what I can't believe is that Derrick didn't drink last night," Cam turned to the three boys in the back, laughing. "Seriously man, how did you do it?"

"Shut up. Someone had to drive."

"Too bad, Rebecca Farling was eyeing you up all night long." The boys snickered in the back at Cam's remark. Derrick had been trying to get her the whole two weeks they were there, yet the girl just didn't budge. Finally last night she was willing and weirdly Derrick wasn't, and it wasn't just because he didn't drink. He just didn't want her.

"Got a lot on my mind," Derrick gritted his teeth.

"Whatever man," Cam dismissed their conversation and leaned his head against the window much like Kemp, and fell asleep soon.

It would be a long two hour ride back to Westchester, and Cam wanted to get his sleep. Josh wanted the ride to end, Chris wasnted to go back, and Derrick was determined to not think about Massie Block. Not even once.

* * *

"Massie sweetie, you need to get ready," Kendra Block ordered as she slipped on wedges, all the while frantically talking to the caterer on the phone.

"Yes of course we need salads. There are going to be Westchester house wives here, not a wild pack of dogs."

Massie rolled her eyes as she listened to her mother talk.

Kendra Block was a sensible woman. Though she gave the appearance of the regular high strung, needy, rich, bitchy hosue wife, Kendra was actually loving and caring and good natured beneath it all. She was always wanting to impress someone, and unfortunately that trait had passed down to Massie.

She loved her mother, of course she did. She loved her dearly yet sometimes Massie looked at Kendra and wondered if that would be her life. Would she marry some rich CEO type and live out her days planning barbecues and social events and not having time to herself?

That was the life Massie saw herself having when she was younger. It was what every young rich preteen girl saw themselves having here at Westchester. Go to school at some fancy university, probably join a sorority, after have a internship at some fashion place whatever which was probably bought by their parents, meeting prince charming then living out their days in some big house that seemed empty 24/7.

It was sad to think about it, yet her mom seemed happy enough.  
William Block was a good man, a loving husband, a great father. He excelled in business and diplomacy, as well as coming home in time for dinner and having weekend get-aways at the lake with his family and the Lyons'.

Even so, it wasn't the life that Massie wanted. It was before but not anymore. In fact, it scared the shit out of her.

"Mass, are you really going to wear that," her mother pursed her lips as she took the phone away from her ear.

Massie looked down at her jean shorts and Alice+Olivia red top. It was casual. It said "barbecue." But even Massie should have known it wasn't up to Westchester taste.

"I'll change into a romper."

"Cute, cute," Kendra smiled. A voice spoke in the phone and Kendra bit back a laugh. "No. No I'm so sorry Horatio I wasn't speaking to you. Yes, yes we will make the payment. Don't you worry. Okay. Great! See you soon! Buh-bye."

Massie walked up the spiral steps to her bed room and threw the top over her head and the shorts down her legs. She admired her tan for a moment in the mirror. Though London was usally dreary and rainy, she did like how she tanned on the few good days there, as well was she glad that she knew the miracles of tanning beds.

After changing into a floral romper and strapping on some wedges, Massie applied a coat of lip gloss and gave herself one more glance at the mirror.

She was ready and perfect.

Or at least that's what she wanted every one to think.

Massie Block wanted people to think that every time she rolled out of bed, no matter what she wore she was perfect. She would always spray herself with white citrus perfume before going on a run, and when everybody asked how she smelled so good Massie would just shrug and say it was natural. It was her sweat.

It wasn't.

Massie Block wasn't perfect. She hid behind coats of lip gloss, make up, and a confidence boost she received from years of being the pretty committee alpha.

There was nothing perfect about her.

After all, she couldn't keep Derrick.

She frowned in the mirror. There it was. The bothersome little tick that followed her around all summer.

When freshman year began, the PC and the former Briarwood not Westchester Prep boys had made peace and finally decided to be friends once more. By October, Claire and Cam were dating again and he was the sweet prince she always wanted. Dylan and Chris joked around and made each other laugh. Alicia and Josh became class representatives together, Kemp and Kristen tutored each other. Kemp in soccer and Kristen in academics, then one day it became something so, so much more.

But then there left Derrick and Massie.

As a joke, Derrick frequently asked Massie out almost everyday freshman year. He was still funny and quirky and the same boy she knew who wiggled his butt every time he blocked a goal during a soccer game.

Despite her "higher up" behavior and the way she held herself in public, she secretly liked that Derrick always asked her out. She turned him down of course. It was always a joke between them. That was just how they worked.

Derrick would have a girlfriend, and still ask Massie Block out.

Massie had boy problems and confided in Derrick.

It was all okay until one day it just wasn't.

The beginning of sophomore year and Derrick barely uttered a word to her. Maybe winning State Championship his freshman year made his head double sizes. Massie would joke around with him, kick his legs underneath the table. She even invited him to her Halloween party which he and the other boys ditched for a college party at NYU which Harris Fisher invited the boys to (at the time Fisher dated some hot blonde NYU art student).

Massie was hurt to be honest. So, so, so hurt.

Then she ignored him and things only went downhill.

Chris' jokes weren't so funny to Dylan anymore, Josh and Alicia grew further and further apart with all the work and side romances they participated in, Kemp and Kirsten had their huge falling out, then Cam thought he was too good enough for purity princess Claire Lyons.

By the end of sophomore year, the PC and the soccer boys didn't talk and all the years of crushes and friendships vanished into thin air.

The groups were like ships at night, sailing past each other and not looking back even once for fear of retaliation.

"Massie! Come down! The guests have arrived!" Kendra Block's voice cut through Massie's thoughts. She jumped and hit her knee off her dresser.

Her chestnut curls bounced on every step as she ran down the steps. Both Mr. and Mrs. Block had a thing for tardiness. They didn't like it, and Massie seemed to be late to everything.

William Block opened the door to his home and in poured the sunlight, blinding Massie's face.

"Massie!" a dark haired girl ran past Mr. Block.

William laughed and greeted her father.

"Leesh!" Massie hugged her best friend and beta to the PC tightly. "Ugh, I've missed you!"

"Me too! OMG we have so much to talk about! First, tell me all about London. Were there any cute boys? Did you meet the David Beckham!?"

"Calm down Leesh," Massie laughed. Alicia wore a red romper and black wedges, almost twinning Massie's outfit. Her hair was in a tight pony tail behind her, yet curled. She was, as usual, perfect. Massie didn't doubt that Alicia's perfection wasn't all planned out. Leesh probably woke up pretty and prim and proper and perfect. Massie, as much as she liked to fake it, didn't.

"Sorry, I'm just soooooo happy you're home," spoke the dark haired girl hurridly. Suddenly, she frowned, "...so I'm guessing you didn't meet David?"

Massie laughed.

"At least tell me you met Victoria."

Massie shook her head, clearly amused.

"Then what about Brooklyn?" Alicia wiggled her brows.

"Oh shut up about the Beckhams! I met none of them idiot."

"Hey, hey watch the language," Alicia joked.

The girls linked arms and headed for the back yard. Little did they know that in two hours drama would ensue.

 _...so this is where things go really bad._

 _Warning: Despite the events to come, I swear this wasn't the pretty committee's fault. When I say that I mean, we didn't start it._

* * *

Kemp Hurley swaggered in to the Blocks' end-of-the-summer barbecue with a daring smile on his face. Behind him was Chris, who was busy fixing his light baby blue tie.

"I don't know why you wore that thing Plovert, you look ridiculous," Kemp said with a lazy grin. He scanned the room for girls and found a group giggling over to where the two boys stood.

"Oh shut up Kemp. My mother told me to wear it."

"Awh, little momma's boy," Kemp laughed as he locked Chris's head between one arm and dug his elbow of the other arm on his head.

"Ow! Ouch! Hey watch it Hurley!" Chris laughed as he struggled from Kemp's grip.

A figure came towards them holding up two wine glasses. It was Josh, and he wore a pink polo shirt.

How classic.

"The Blocks sure do know their fine wine," Josh mused as he handed a drink to both Kemp and Chris. "I'm so glad you idiots finally made it. If I had to listen to Kendra Block talk about the country club prospering one more time I was going to loose it."

"Kendra Block's hot. I see where Massie gets it," Kemp wriggled his brows in obvious amusement.  
"Watch out, that's Derricks girl," Chris joked.

All three boys threw their heads back and laughed.

"Look over there Hurley, Kristen Greggory sure does look fit as fuck," Josh whistled.

Kemp clenched his jaw. Kristen did look good.

Her hair had grown an inch or maybe even two longer, and her hair was a much lighter blonde although still maintaining it's golden streaks. Her body was super toned and fit from soccer and her tan...

"She looks alright," Kemp tilted his head, watching her hips sway in those mini white shorts.

"Yeah," Chris laughed into his drink. "If alright means hot..."

Kemp punched him in the shoulder. "I don't know why everybody loves the pretty committee so much."

"Well...we did at some point," Chris pointed out.

"Yeah and at some point I sucked my thumb," Kemp rolled his eyes. "We all grow out of things. I just wish everybody else saw those girls for what they really are. Manipulative sluts."

Josh whistled low. "Damn Hurley, alright harsh yeah?"

Kemp arched a brow. "Oh, please do _not_ tell me you're fucking Rivera or something. Is that why you're standing up for them?" He turned to Chris. "And are you all buddy buddy with Marvil again? Remember how _that_ turend out last time," Kemp sneered.

"Shit man it was all just a joke. What? Can't I say if a girl's hot or not?" Chris bit out.

Josh ticked the heel of his Ralph Lauren shoes into the dirt, trying to look interested in it instead of getting into the heated conversation. Luckily, the other two members of the boys' little clan joined.

Derrick looked a bit glum, probably because he was in the house of the "she-wolf" (as Derrick liked to call her). Cam wore a lazy smile over his face. His eyes looked tired and he had his hands casually in his pockets when they walked over.

"Trouble in paradise?" Cam smiled.

"Shut it Fisher," Kemp rolled his eyes.

"Ouch. Never mind then, forget I asked." Cam turned his attention towards Derrick. "Still brooding over Mass?"  
"I'm not brooding over anybody," Derrick sighed. "I just don't like being here is all."

"If it makes you feel any better man, I saw Mrs. Block eyeing you up. Maybe you can go for the mama bear instead of the baby cub? Just a suggestion though," Chris laughed. "After all, if you broke apart their marriage Mass would hate you even more than she already does."

"That's just what I need," Derrick sighed once more as he reached to grab a wine glass from a waiter walking around. "The Blocks sure do know how to make a casual barbecue into something fancy."

"The Blocks excel in diplomacy," Josh spoke. "I mean, this party isn't just meant for the little kids to splash around in the pool."

"Remember when we were those little kids?" Derrick mused as the boys turned and watched little children dive into the Blocks' pool. Stone outlined the shapely blue pool, almost giving it a forest-y charm to it. There was a waterfall at one end, with rocks forming upward to where there was a hot tub, but that wasn't accessible at the moment. Lawn chairs were facing out towards the pool, where the little children played around as well.

Derrick remembered when he came over for summers as they were growing up. Massie started tanning out on the lawn chairs while Derrick still childishly played in the pool, asking why Mass didn't join him anymore. She started bringing more girls over, and all together Derrick stopped coming. He discovered that swimming with his guy friends at a public pool was more fun anyways, yet there wasn't the same charm as being innocent and childish with Massie Block, before she was thee _Massie Block_ everybody knew.

It was nice to think back on, but memories were just that.

Memories.

Sure, it was nice to look back but when you looked back you were lost. It was much better to look forward anyways.

The Block's back yard looked as if it were decorated for a wedding. A fire pit to the side by a huddle of tall trees, although it wasn't lit yet. A hammock suspended from in between two tree trunks, and currently a young couple occupied it. The patio was large and smelled of the barbecue. There was an outside bar to the side and all of the adults lingered and mingled around that area. Music played, something that sounded like the Beattles instead of something more modern. Not like Derrick minded anyways. He, personally, like it a lot better than some of the modern music now in this day and age.

The air was thick in the heat, yet there was something magical and relaxing at the Blocks'. It was as if the boys were back in camp and there was no drama.

How they were so wrong though.

Drama came just around the corner, and it started in the form of Dempsey Solomon.

… _.I don't know if Kristen is just dumb or suicidal._

 _Isn't she supposed to be the smart one? You probably have no idea what I'm talking about Mr. Alcibur but if you knew Kristen Greggory you knew that she was the most rational of the group and bringing a Valmont Valley soccer player especially when she knew that the soccer boys from our school were going to be there, was a dumb move._

 _Kristen isn't dumb though._

 _I guess she just wanted to die and bring us all with her or something._

Dempsey's arms covered most of Kristen in general as the pair lay on a hammock suspending between two trunks at the Block's back yard. Kristen smiled up at him lovingly and he kissed her nose.

Perfect, she thought. Too perfect...

"Kris, wanna get food? I'm starved."

"Sure," Kristen untangled herself form him and made her way to the patio.

As the pair walked on, they were stopped by four girls on a blanket with a picnic basket in the middle and a variety of food placed out all over them.

"Kristen, don't you wanna sit?" Massie peered up at Kris, covering her eyes from the glaring sunlight.

"Uh, sure?" Kristen looked up at Dempsey's figure, hesitant.

"It's alright babe," Dempsey kissed her cheek. "I'll be quick anyways. Have fun with your friends."

Kristen gave him a loving smile and plopped down between Claire and Dylan. Claire munched on a sandwich while Dylan picked at her salad.

"I forgot how nice this was," Kristen smiled as she leaned back on the palm of her hands, letting her body bask in the warm sunlight.

"Ugh, I know right. As much as I loved London, the weather is absolute crap. I needed some sun in my life before I turned into a vampire," Massie spoke.

Alicia was busy texting away on her phone and looked up every now and then when a conversation arrived that gave her some potential interest. All in all, the Latina was very much distracted.

"So," Massie gave Kristen a mischievous smile. She had that prying, gossiping gleam in her eyes as if she were going to get an inside scoop on something. _Mass should jut be a reporter,_ Kristen mused to herself as she waited for Massie to say something. "I hear you and Dempsey Solomon have been dating for three months now."

"Yeah," Kristen blushed and looked down at her yellow painted toe nails.

"Don't be shy Kris, he is absolutely adorable!" Massie gushed.

Claire nodded her head in agreement, her mouth busy swallowing her sandwich.

From the distance a sheer giggle was heard and the girls look on towards Olivia Ryan, who pressed herself up on Cam Fisher.

Claire frowned and swallowed her sandwich. The blonde sighed and drank her orange juice, suddenly looking interesting on the nutritional facts to take her attention away from Cam and Olivia. It didn't work however since she kept stealing glances at them from where the pretty committee sat.

"Ugh, can Olivia Ryan get anymore sluttier?" Dylan groaned.

"Probably," Alicia spoke as she looked up from her phone.

"You should know," Massie rolled her eyes. "You were bffs with her once."

"Once," Alicia pressed. "People grow out of things you know."

Massie shrugged off the awkwardness that had just come from that tiny conversation then went back to talking about London to Kristen. It was then that Dylan spat out her wine all over Claire's baby blue shirt.

"EW! Dyl!" Claire moaned. "Ew, that was my new shirt!"

"You'll forgive me when you see that!" Dylan pointed near the entrance by the driveway. There stood Kemp tall and proud, grabbing Dempsey by the collar of his shirt and every so slightly lifting him up off his feet.

"Kemp!" Kristen shrieked as she bolted from the blanket and ran full speed towards the boys. Luckily, no adults looked on. They were too caught up in their own conversations and probably business deals to even notice. It was like that all the time though, or so at least it was here at good ol' Westchester.

"Kemp! Stop it! You're hurting him!" Kristen pryed Kemp's hands away from Dempsey, who, in the first time since they started dating, looked furious.

Once Kemp's grip was released from Dempsey's shirt, the tall dirty blonde haired boy shoved Kristen from him. This sparked a reaction from all the girls at the picnic blanket, who in which all rose and made their way over to where the boys stood.

Luckily, still, nobody other than them noticed.

"What's you're problem Hurley!?" Kristen snarled, glaring dagger into Kemp's blue eyes.

Blue, blue, beautiful blue. Her stomach ached. It was hard to look into them again, after everything. She didn't care though. He was out of line and she was furious.

"You're prince charming boy friend just pushed you and I'm the one with the problem?" Kemp laughed almost like a maniac. His eyes were wild. "Straighten out your priorities Greggory, honestly you sure do know how to pick em'."

"I straightened out my priorities after I was done seeing you!" Kristen pointed an accusing finger at Kemp's chest.

"You mean after you were done sleeping around with me?" Kemp sneered, and shoved her hand away from him.

"Don't touch my girlfriend!" Dempsey snarled, becoming very defensive.

"I already did! There's nothing on her that I didn't touch."

The girls had just arrived to the huge mess when Dempsey Solomon's fist connected with Kemp Hurley's jaw, and the brown haired, blue eyed boy stumbled back and fell to Blocks' driveway with a loud _thud_.

This of course attracted the attention of the soccer boys, as they ran to their friend's side.

"Stop it Dempsey he's not worth it!" Kristen cried as she put herself between Kemp and Demspey.

"You're girlfriend didn't tell me to stop it four months ago Solomon," Kemp gave the pair a sly smile as he wiped blood that dripped from his nose.

"Shut it Kemp!" Kristen screamed.

Dempsey tried to push himself past Kristen and let his arm swing back, but another strong arm caught it. Dempsey turned around, bewildered, when Derrick Harrington's first connected with his jaw and the Valmont Valley soccer player doubled back and fell onto Kemp.

"AHHH!" Dempsey cried out as he clutched his jaw. "You dick!"

"What the fuck Derrick!" Kristen cried, tears slipping through her eyes and down her cheeks. She pulled Dempsey up, but he only sat up and put his head in her chest. "You've just ruined everything!"

"He punched my friend first Kristen! What did you want me to do?"

Massie glared daggers at him and pulled him away from the pair. "You always have to make a scene Derrick! What the fuck is wrong with you! I thought you would have grown up yet here you are."

Derrick gave her an odd grin. "Well, well, well, I didn't know I was good enough for the queen to speak to. I'm so happy!" he said sarcastically.

"Me!?" Massie gasped. "You act as if it wasn't you who suddenly stopped talking to me!"

Massie and Derrick glared at each other. Their anger filled the little area, or so it seemed. The heat from their bodies was dynamic, and rather scary. Wherever these two went, there was a flame that burned brighter and brighter following them. It burned and burned through everything, even their relationship...until there was nothing left.

"You're girl started the fight here Block."

"Oh, please Harrington you act as if Kemp isn't a crazed dog! He's just like you. You're their ring leader and you've made them all into barking wild animals," Massie huffed, pressing her arms across her chest.

Derrick glanced down at her chest, with her breathing heavy and her arms crossed pushing her chest up. _Still so hot when she's angry..._ Derrick pushed those thoughts out of his mind when he saw her eyes darken into his own. He forgot how much of a bitch she could be, despite her attempts on hiding it.

"Just leave it Mass. For once this isn't our battle," Derrick sighed as he pushed past Massie and turned to leave.

"You're not going Derrick! You just punched the guy in the face and you act as if there isn't going to be a consequence!" Massie drew him back, pulling him back into the circle where both of their groups stood around and in the middle the "love triangle" of Kemp, Kristen, and Dempsey Solomon. "This is just like you to do," Massie pushed him closer and closer to his boys until Chris caught him before he pushed back to him. "You always start trouble and then jut walk away as if you can get away with whatever. Well guess what? Not this time Harrington."

"Damn Mass," Josh spoke out. "You sound like a crazed ex-girlfriend."

"Well...she kinda is," Chris tried to joke, yet knew it was the wrong place and time by the glares he received from the pretty committee.

"Oh shut it Josh," Alicia huffed. "You always have a comment to make."

"Better than you Leesh," Josh' tone was ugly and rude. "All you're used to is keeping quiet and spreading your legs open."

This shut Alicia up, yet there was a look of hurt in her eyes in which Josh immediately regretted his words. He reached out, as if to apologize but Derrick slapped hand away.

"We owe nothing to them guys. You're all a bunch of vindictive bitches, and honestly I feel bad. If Massie wasn't leading you all around with a tight leash around your necks then maybe you guys would be decent."

"Shut up!" Massie screeched. Her hair was wild in the thick summer heat, and her anger only helped it (or in this case made it worse). "You think you know everything Derrick but you're not a king or god or whatever you think you are!"

"Seriously," Dylan, surprisingly, spoke up. "You guys need to pull your heads out of your ass and realize that not everybody loves you."

Alicia turned to her, surprise in her eyes.

"Us? Are you kidding me?" Cam laughed. "That's a joke right? You always were the funny girl out of the group Dyl."

"Don't call me that," Dylan crossed her arms. "Only my friends call me that."

Claire turned sheepishly from Cam's gaze, and turned to look out at the patio. Still nobody noticed.

"Whatever," Derrick sighed and looked down at Dempsey who had moved somehow in the midst of the argument to the side of the brick wall where Kristen clutched his hand and attempted to peer at his most likely dislocated jaw. Kemp stood next to Cam and looked over at the pair with a dark expression. "Let's go guys."

Derrick began to walk away with the boys at his side when Massie had decided she wasn't going to jut let that happen.

The brunette moved past the boys quickly so she was in front of Derrick and walked backwards so she faced him the entire time, anger in her eyes, never subsiding.

"Stop running away Derrick! You can't just do that anymore! You can't keep hurting people over and over and over again and expect nothing bad to happen to you! I'm sick of it!" Massie's voice was hoarse, and, almost hurt even. Heads began to turn at the pair as the boys stopped walking behind Derrick, while the two alphas still walked on.

They were fire. A flame burning past everything. A force to be reckoned with.

"Just leave it Mass."

"No."

"I said, _drop it_ ," Derrick's voice was low and rough.

"Stop hurting people. Stop hurting me," Massie whispered.

Derrick stopped but Massie didn't. His eyes widened when he saw which direction she was going. "Mass!" he reached out but it was too late. Massie tripped back to her own pool and a large splash was heard, which finally got the attention of all of the adults.

Kendra Block ran to her daughter as did the pretty committee. Mr. Block tried to reasure the guests, in which he then saw the hurt Dempsey leaning against the wall with blood out of his nose.

Luckily for Dempsey, there was quite a number of doctors there that day.

"Massie!" Claire cried out as she held out her hand for Massie to grab. She along with Mrs. Block pulled Massie out of the pool.

Teeth chattering, Massie looked around her, alarmed, as if it were the biggest shock of her life. She coughed out water and gasped for breath.

"Dear are you okay?" Mrs. Block put her hand over her mouth. "Oh you poor thing, let's get you changed," Kendra grabbed a towel from one of the lawn chairs and threw it over her daughter's cold wet shoulders.

Massie didn't care for it though.

Dripping water down every side of her, teeth chattering, and the worst of it all...wet hair, and yet Massie didn't even care. She looked around the lawn for the one pair of deep chocolaty brown eyes that she wanted so desperately to see, yet it wasn't there staring back at her as it was not even a minute ago.

Looking at the drive way, she saw his back retreating as well as the backs of the other boys.

 _Turn around Derrick. Turn around. Please. Dammit. Turn. Around._

But he didn't, and Massie mentally slapped herself for thinking that she could get some sort of reaction out of Derrick Harrington. After all, what was she thinking?

Things hadn't changed.

Nothing changed, not even a bit.

* * *

 _...you see Mr. Alcibur. I told you it wasn't my fault. It wasn't the pretty committee's fault at all. In fact, I believe at least, that the only fault we had in any of this was falling for idiot boys as the soccer boys._

 _It's stupid really. Thinking that things would change and go back to normal. I was an idiot for thinking that._

 _Me, Massie Block, a complete idiot or Derrick Harrington. What's new there?_

 _Mr. Alcibur, I know what you're thinking. I'm just some dumb love struck (or thinking that I am love struck) teen who is still prying after a boy who wasn't hers for two years now._

 _Well, I'm not._

 _I'm a teen who is trying to cling to something that she has known for all her life. Derrick and I were child hood friends. Derrick was my middle school crush. I had dated Derrick Harrington in my innocent girlish preteen/junior years. He was real._

 _Massie and Derrick._

 _Derrick and Massie._

 _Derrington and Block._

 _Harrington and Block._

 _Massington._

 _We were prefect. We fit well more than anyone and any other couple I knew. He's dynamic, flawless, athletic, brave, kind. He was everything that I dared to hope to be. Once we finally just became friends, he showed me how to be brave. He showed me how to be kind._

 _His friends got along with mine, even more so seeing as how they all dated. We were all great friends and I built friendships with his boys through us being together._

 _With Derrick, I felt like the prim and perfect Massie Block I always tried so hard to be, except with him it didn't feel like trying. It felt like breathing. Just as simple and natural as that._

 _To me, this is the story of Massie and Derrick, and this is how it ends._

 _Childhood friends, into prepubescent lovers, to now nothing._

… _Mr. Alcibur, when does high school end? Graduation can't come quick enough._

 _-Massie Block_

Little known to Massie and Derrick as well as all their friends that the year would bring about more than just that little dramatic incident a week before school started. The school years of 2015 and 2016 would bring drama, friendship, sex, relationships, change, ups, downs, scares, triumph, and love.

Chris Plovert would know true laughter.

Dylan Marvil would learn how to love herself.

Josh Hotz would find himself.

Alicia Rivera would find herself in one too many guys, before she learned she didn't need any of them.

Kemp Hurley would learn that even he had feelings.

Kristen Greggory would know true triumph.

Cam Fisher would learn how to love again.

Claire Lyons would learn how to be her own person.

Derrick Harrington would learn how to be truly brave.

Massie Block would see that there was perfection to being imperfect.

Yet, the ten of these young teens wouldn't know any of this. After all, graduation was far away and the first day of junior year hadn't even begun yet.

* * *

 **END! Hope you liked it a lot. This was shit ton of writing but I'm really trying to be better at it so, here ya go :)**

 **Also, reviews would be grand and are the only reason as to why I even would continue to write 3**


	2. First Day of Junior Year

**Seriously, I'm so so so so super happy with all of the reviews.**

 **It means a lot to me, and as promised here's chapter two.**

 **Enjoy :) (and please review after!)**

* * *

Chapter Two

 _Massie_

Unfortunately for Massie Block, the first day of Junior year was far too eventful. She was hoping for a more laid back beginning to the year but of course that wasn't what she would get.

After all this was Westchester, and Westchester never did mediocre. Westchester was all out and Massie for once wanted to lay low and just be in the back.

That's not what she got the day of September 3rd however.

"Mass!" Alicia tip toed her way over to Massie through the crowd of students all going straight, huddled around like penguins to the auditorium.

Massie whirled around, cappuccino in hand as she stared at Alicia's deep brown (worried) eyes.

"I sense trouble," Massie grumbled. "It's only 8am dammit."

"You'll never believe this!" Alicia pursed her lips into a frown.

"What?"

"Skye Hamilton and Josh Hotz!"

"Wait...what? Repeat Leesh. Did I just hear you right?" Massie gawked at the news, not caring that students pushed past them in a hurry to get to the auditorium. Everytime the front doors to Westchester Prep opened up, letting in a new wave of students it also let in the wave of the crisp autumn air.

Just last week it was nice and hot and now there was a cool breeze coming through town, and Massie felt as if she were back in London with the cold breeze despite the fact that it was summer. Rainy it may be there, London was beautiful and Westchester had lost its glamour and charm to Massie long ago.

"I know right!" Alicia looked distressed, which wasn't like her. Though her troubles, Massie made a mental note in her mind to compliment Alicia when she got the chance. The Spanish beauty had her dark brownish almost black hair down in loose waves that framed her face perfectly, like a picture. Alicia's white uniform tee couldn't hide her cleavage, which gave Alicia the lusty seductive look she always seemed to go for with out even trying. Her black school skirt couldn't hide Alicia's curves, especially that concerning what was so shapely behind.

Massie frowned a bit.

Alicia probably didn't have to try so hard in the mornings.

She sipped her cappuccino and continued to listen on to her best friend complain about her ex and the senior alpha, Skye.

"It's horrible Mass! They like are a thing now."

"They probably just fuck Leesh, it's nothing."

Alicia crossed her arms across her chest. "You wouldn't be saying that if this were Derrick."

Ouch.

That hurt.

"I don't care about Derrick anymore Leesh, he's totally nothing ya know," Massie clicked the roof of her tongue, acting as if it were nothing.

But it was something. It was always something.

Massie Block and Derrick Harrington may have not been in a romantic relationship since the end of eight grade, but they were always constantly in each others lives...in romantic ways and other. It was hard to just throw that all away over little disputes that turned big and sour. Massie wouldn't lie...she did miss Derrick's scent and tanning by her pool while she watching him swim around and splash her. It was fun. They were innocent. She missed laying down on the grass with him when they went camping (although camping wasn't Massie's strongest suit). She missed how she could complain to him about cheer and he could teach her about soccer, making Massie feel higher up to all of the girls pretending to know the sport just because it was big at their school and juts because all the hottest guys played on the team.

It hurt her, yes, but she'd get over it.

She was Massie fucking Block, and she would get over it...sooner better than later.

"Whatever," Alicia nervously twirled her hair. "I don't know why I care so much ya know? I mean it's not like we've spoken recently other than..the incident," Alicia grinned sheepishly. Te girls had all called last weeks barbecue fiasco, _the incident_ , and they didn't like to dwell on Massie's huge splash (literally) concerning the entire situation.

William and Kendra Block gave Massie an earful that night about letting Derrick just walk off upset (Massie didn't know why they cared so much anyways), and it took at least two hours before Dempsey Solomon finally left the Blocks' sitting room and was well enough to drive home.

Luckily for her dad, William Block didn't loose any business ventures that day and Kendra's country club ladies weren't upset at all. A bit shocked, but a little teenage brawl was the most exciting part of their day other than changing their children's diapers.

"I just think that I'm so nervous because I'm finally going to do the school announcements with Josh this year."

"Really? I thought that job was left to the seniors."

"This years senior class is a bit lazy when it comes to all of that," Alicia sighed. "Anyways, it'll be the first time since 8th grade and I dunno...I'm just nervous and everything."

Massie gave Alicia a supporting hug. "Don't worry Leesh. It'll be fine. It's the morning too, you'll be wide awake and doing your job while Josh is still most likely half asleep. It's going to be juts fine."

"You're right," Alicia breathed in and out and in and out again. When given a curious look from Mass, Alicia only shrugged. "It's yoga," Alicia explained. "With my breathing exercises I'm learning how to get rid of all negative energy in my life."

"Do you know how to get rid of principal Kensington's speech?"

"No, unfortunately."

The two girls shuffled in and glanced around the large dimly lighted auditorium for the other three pretty committee members.

Ah, the first day of school. Massie felt bad for the freshies, yet found them really annoying. Especially the slutty wannabee girls who already tried to dress up their uniforms to look way too glitz and sparkly. It was so trashy and 2012, you'd think that they'd learn. The little freshman boys walked around like they were hot stuff, only to be turned down once they saw the older varisty boys who were known in Westchester for skill in whatever sport they played.

All around her Massie saw little Derricks and Cams, just like how the boys were back in freshman year. Massie wondered if she looked as desperate as the freshman newbies or the "sophomore sluts." Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't. That didn't matter now, she was a junior and an alpha. Everybody knew who really ruled this school, and it wasn't in the clutches of Sky Hamilton.

"Massie!" Claire called out seven rows to the front.

Alicia and Massie stumbled their way up the front, almost tripping on some new freshman meat coming their way down.

Claire, Dylan, and Kristen had saved two leathery blue seats for the two girls and both the alpha and beta of the PC plopped down, ready to hear juicy back-to-school gossip.

"So I hear Savannah Geist got a boob job over the summer. That's why she's wearing her huge BOCD sweater from middle school," Dylan gushed.

"I thought they looked fine before," Claire spoke out, more to herself in surprise than to anyone really.

"Oh well, whatever," Massie dismissed it. "Good for Savannah. Loose the throw back sweater and maybe she'd be cool though. Next?"  
"I already told you about Skye Slutzinton and Josh," Alicia said with uninterest as she stared down at her phone.

"What?" Kristen furrowed her brows.

"Yeah, they're like totes fucking but who cares..." Alicia rolled her eyes, acting as if she wasn't going crazy over it two minutes ago.

"Anyone else?" Massie pursed her lips.

"Valmont Valley's cheer squad thirty girls this year," Kristen offered up while staring down at some papers. Probably AP work from over the summer. Kristen never had a day off.

"That's a big squad for Valmont, but I really don't care."

If the sporty blonde was hurt by Massie's comment then she really didn't show it.

"The Valmont Valley girl's varsity soccer has Meadow Lewandowski as their captain," Kristen rolled her eyes, jaw clenched.

"The slut?" Massie raised her brows at this news. "I'm surprised she can even walk if anything." At this the girls laughed, and Kristen smiled for bringing good gossip on the table.

"She was Dempsey's ex," Kristen looked down at her hands, thoughtful.

"The past is in the past," Alicia comforted her, placing a hand on Kristen's shoulder. "Besides he's dating you now. So what if she's his ex?"  
"They go to the same school," Kristen pointed out. "I can't like...ya know...watch over him or anything while he's so far away."

"Well you and Kemp go to the same school and Dempsey can't watch you either," Dylan pointed out. "It'll be fine."

Kristne twirled a piece of hair around her finger tips. "Yeah, yeah I guess you guys are right."

"We _are_ right," Claire corrected her as the other blonde pulled out a granola bar from her bag.

Just then five boys moved behind the PC.

Looking up from her compact mirror, Massie inwardly groaned at the sight of Derrick, Cam, Josh, Chris, and Kemp.

"Great," she heard Dylan mutter under her breath.

"Hello ladies," Kemp winked at the five Pretty Committee members. Around them, people watched to see what drama would ensue from the ten teens. It seemed that everyone had already heard about the Block barbecue incident.

"I thought your fight with Solomon would knock you down a couple pegs Kemp," Dylan spoke through clenched teeth.

"Nah, still as cocky as ever," Kemp laughed a boyish laugh, one that reminded Massie of when they were still young.

Derrick didn't even look in her direction but sat directly behind Massie, arms crossed. Even with their incident, Massie had to admit to herself that Derrick looked good. His uniform tie was a bit loosened and he had his sleeves rolled up, showing a great deal of the veins on his arms, which only proved that he did in fact still have a nice body. Soccer did him good, in fact it did all of the soccer boys good.

 _Too bad their personalities are still shit..._ Massie thought.

"Staring Block?" Derrick spoke, yet he still didn't look at her. "Take a picture it'll last longer."

Massie blushed but only for a quick second until she composed herself and remembered she was an alpha, not some simpering little girl who had a crush. "Shut up Derrick."

"First name basis?" Derrick smirked. He glanced at her, for once. "I didn't know we were first name basis."

"Must have forgotton. Sorry _Harrington_."

"Ah, there's the Massie I know and love."

Though clearly a joke, those words shot through Massie's heart. There was once a time when Derrick knew her, not loved her but knew her and could have grown to lover her.

Massie couldn't take it anymore. She was loosing it. Literally loosing it. Why had Derrick's opinions even matter to her anyways? She really didn't know why. It was all so pointless really. Derrick Harrington wasn't worth her time anymore, and clearly she wasn't worth his.

Behind them, another person entered the scene.

This time it was slutty Olivia, with her uniform skirt (if you could even call it that) clinging tightly around her thighs and the first three buttons of her shirt undone. She had a huge red bow in her hair, and her scream was shrill as well as ear shattering.

"CAM!" she squealed as she got onto the rebel's lap.

Cam groaned. "Ow..hey Liv," he laughed sheepishly.

Claire looked back then quickly looked away, with a blush playing on her cheeks.

"I've missed you so much baby," Olivia kissed Cam and grabbed a fist full of his hair. "It's been too long."

"Clearly," Cam sighed.

"Please get this slut out of my breathing space," Alicia spoke to Massie. The two girls laughed but apparently they weren't the only ones who heard it.

"Excuse me?" Olivia raised a brow at the PC.

All five girls turned their heads around and glared at Olivia. Claire looked shy, and not as bitchy as the other girls but she still mustered a glare which was more directly aimed at Cam if anything.

"You heard me, clearly." Alicia didn't back down. Massie liked that about her.

"Well Whore Rivera, you shouldn't be talking."

"Oh please Olivia. Guys like me, I don't throw myself all over them." Alicia looked triumphant as a smirk played on her lips. "You see that's what makes us so different."

"At least I can keep one boyfriend. You seem to go around all the time," Olivia quipped.

"Boyfriend? I think Fisher over here has you listed down as a quickie if anything. He's just too nice to say 'fuck off'.'"

Olivia gasped and looked at Cam who in return looked down at his black dress shoes.

Chris decided to save him from embarrassment and cleared his throat. "Acutally Alicia, that's not true. Cam likes Olivia very much."

Massie could hear Claire's heart breaking. She never said much, but it was so obvious that Claire still had feelings for Cam. When the pair broke up, Claire cried herself to sleep for three months straights. Massie never left Claire's side when the two were home. She was positively broken.

After things got better...well, Cam didn't. Cam Fisher swept through girls day after day, having whoever he wished (much like the rest of the former Briarwood Boys themselves). Though Claire was okay, it still hut her and seeing Cam flaunt around his budding romances with various different girls (including slut-Livia) made Claire break every single time.

"Cam likes Olivia like Westchester likes Valmont," Dylan joked. Kristen high fived her.

"Nice one Dyl," Alica smirked.

Cam sighed and sort of pushed Olivia off his lap and onto the seat next to him. "It's kinda embarrassing really. You guys butting in on my relationships...we aren't even friends," Cam gave each girl a stiff glare. He wasn't calm, cool, and collected Cam Fisher anymore. It was a much more hardened version of Cam...kinda like when he and Claire had just recently broken up.

Claire pursed her lips, almost in an attempt to hide tears. She was easily hurt, always had been and probably always would. Massie watched quietly three seats away from her, praying that Claire wouldn't show any type of "weakness." That wasn't what the pretty committee needed right now. Luckily, Claire played it off and acted as if Cam's words hadn't stabbed right through her, flipping her hair in a careless motion. That was the Claire that Massie had trained her to be. Pretty Committee Claire...the one who was shaped and molded into their own little doll by Massie, Alicia, Dylan, and Kristen.

"It's whatever Fisher," Alicia butted in. "It''s just that we didn't think you'd stoop down so low to some whore."

"It's better than dating a prude," Cam didn't miss a beat.

The boys stared at Cam is shock, not thinking that he'd say something that harsh. They all turned to look at Clair, who's lips parted in surprise as well. Her eyes were hurt and her cheeks were pinks with embarrassment.

After noticing that all eyes were on her, Claire closed her mouth and looked down at her hands. She'd never say anything. Claire wasn't confrontational, it just wasn't her. But Massie was...

"Oh get off your high horse Fisher, you and the rest of you guys are nothing but man-whores and even girls will get tired of you soon enough!" Massie raged as she forcefully pulled her purse from the empty seat to her left and stood up, signaling all of the other girls up on their feet.

The boys were silent for once, in disbelief at the Junior girl alpha's rage.

"Well...that was an interesting start to Junior year," Chris spoke meekly.

 _Derrick_

The day went off pretty slowly.

First period turned to second, second turned to third, third to fourth then fourth to fifth until finally sixth period aka lunch time. Derrick's favorite subject.

It was about time too. Derrick always thought that the first day of school was boring, and pretty pointless. But there always had to be a first day, and it always had to be endured. The long talks, the class rules, new students, freshman (unfortunately), and the fortune of 6th period lunch, where Derrick could finally unwind and relax, grateful for not having to hear about this and that and rules this, first day that.

Lunch was surprisingly relaxing even with all of the chattering students and the shy freshman poking around trying to find a seat. Derrick plopped down on his usual seat in the middle of the cafeteria, where he had a good view of everything and everyone.

He felt the chair next to him squeak, and Josh Hotz sat down with a sandwich in hands. "Ah, school lunches. Oh, how I've missed you." Josh bit his sandwich and chewed. He stared out at the corner of his eye until his met Derricks. "Waf sum?" Josh spoke, mouth full and all.

"Close your mouth Hotz," Derrick looked away in disgust. The other boy just laughed and continued his meal.

Westchester Prep looked like every other high class private school in New York. The outside was all large stone walls, clean pristine windows, arch ways leading to various areas (like grassy lawns where some students studied), sunlight streamed in on Westchester Prep in almost every classroom...and the same was very much said for the cafeteria which looked like a courtyard.

Stone columns lined around where the students ate their lunches, leading to an outside where tables were also set up.

In sunny days, Derrick did prefer to eat outside. He liked to even just sit on the lawn and munch on a sandwich before playing a quick game of "kick the ball around and aim it at Chris Plovert." But today, it was surprisingly chilly around sixth period and Derrick preferred to stay inside at times like this. Besides, sometimes it was too hot outside, or the wind would pick up his papers which took Derrick on a little chase around the lawn.

Inside, it was much nosier and he could hear bits of conversations from different tables here and there.

One conversation held information about band camp (or rathery steamy naughty band camp gossip), talk about homework, copying homework, did principal Kensington loose weight, did he gain it? And alas there was talk about the Blocks' barbecue fiasco which the much more "popular" students had all attended.

Derrick hunched his shoulder and tried to hide his face into his phone. There were rumors going around that Derrick had pushed Massie into the pool after ruthlessly punching Dempsey Solomon just because he hated Valmont Valley. Which was true. No, not the pushing Massie in part but hating Valmont. Derrick scowled as he stared hard into his phone screen. Also, why didn't people understand that he had reason to punch Dempsey? He started it.

Sighing, Derrick pushed his phone to the side and rubbed his temples. _I sound like an idiot school boy._

All this drama and gossip didn't matter to him-no, it shouldn't have even mattered to him. He was Derrick Harrington, not some gossiping bird like Allie Rose Singer or even worse, the spawn of all evil Massie Block herself.

Looking up ahead of him Derrick saw Block seat herself between Alicia Rivera and Dylan Marvil who were busy talking about some fashion issue on a magazine. She looked bored, completely uninterested in the people around her. No, not the pretty committee but rather the other 99.99 population of Westchester Prep.

Massie Block held herself on a high pedestal and everybody else had to succumb below her. She was the queen and to her everybody else were just mere unworthy peasants, even Derrick. That was part of the reason he stopped talking to her.

Sure, they had gained friendship back in freshman year but then Massie started talking to seniors and she never had time for Derrick anymore. When she did, Derrick was busy and she'd get mad. Didn't she understand that he had to keep up with soccer especially after winning state last year? Well, apparently she didn't and they didn't win last year. It was a big loss and the only thing Massie said to him after was, _"Hey, wanna come to Chocolate Snails with us?"_ Chocolate Snails? Massie knew he didn't like Chocolate Snails. Why the would she even offer that up after his big loss?

After that they barely talked and then they had the huge falling out. Nothing was the same after that and most likely nothing every would be.

Maybe it was better that way.  
Massie Block and Derrick Harrington were just too different.

Derrick was relaxed.

Massie was high strung.

Derrick woke up and threw on the clothes on his floor, somehow still managing to look good.

Massie woke up and planned three outfits until finally deciding on one, of course looking good.

Derrick was sensible.

Massie was judgemental.

Derrick loved to party.

Massie loved to party, but didn't like when things got out of hand at said parties (aka all of them).

Derrick wanted to get with as many girls as he could, in an attempt of course to get rid of the one girl always on his mind.

Massie tried to find prince charming and molded every guy she met into the one who she could never seem to stop thinking about.

Derrick and Massie were not two sides of the same coin. Derrick and Massie were night and day, ying and yang, the lion and the wolf.

So no, they were no where near similar in anything.

Deep in thought all lunch period long, Derrick hardly heard the bell ring which signaled him to his next class, Creative Writing I with Mr. Torrance Alcibur, a famous author of a set of books that dealt with change or whatever. Derrick was pretty sure it had something to do with divorce or what not but the book was definitely a big hit which made Derrick wonder why Mr. Alcibur would come back to teaching at a high school. But Westchester Prep was home to many wealthy politicians, doctors, and business mens' sons and daughters, so the pay was probably much better for a struggling author who grew out of his time in the lime lights over a decade ago.

Derrick didn't know that seventh period would bring about a great domino effect in the events that were just about to happen.

After all was said and done 7th period, Derrick wondered why he just couldn't have one normal day.

* * *

 **Detention: Massie Block, Derrick Harringotn, Josh Hotz, Alicia Rivera, Dylan Marvil, Claire Lyons, Cam Fisher, Kemp Hurley, Kristen Greggory, and Chris Plovert.**

 **Assigned: Mr. Alcibur**

 **Class: 7** **th** **period, Creative Writing**

 **Reasoning: Starting fights among each other while teacher was teaching. Almost getting physical.**

 **Punishment: Saturday morning detention (preferably from times 8-12).**

* * *

 _Massie_

Not many knew this, but Massie Block had a passion for writing. She had a wild imagination, yet never thought to write anything much in detail. Her imagination then went into fashion and judging certain if not all people on their fashion or lack of in that department. Massie wrote In's and Out's in middle school. Before that she wrote mini stories for her mother who kept all of them in a small treasure box upstairs in the attic of the Block Estate.

Yes, Massie loved to write but she didn't know it yet.

Creative writing was mad up of two types of students. Those who genuinely loved to write and wanted to better themselves so they could get a career in it, and those who slacked off in the class and only took it because creative writing was known (in Westchester at least) to have the laziest teachers.

This year, Massie's class consisted of 32 students which about probably only ten were interested in writing. That was much more than the average.

Since the class was a renowned joke in Westcheter, the students who really wanted to write were only few, varying from 3-7 students only. Not even really...

The kids who wanted to write and pursue journalism careers took classes in the nearby college campuses or had their rich mommy's and daddy's get them some summer internship at their college fraternity brother's now wealthy journalism company.

Things were no where near fair at Westchester but that was just the way things were. If you were looking for justice in any given situation, well, you didn't look to Westchester to find it. If you had money great, if you didn't you had to work and that wasn't so great for those kinds of students. Luckily for Massie, what she wanted to do in life was all solely based around her interest in fashion. If that didn't work up then she could get a job in her dad's business. William Block would never turn down his baby girl or leave her out in the wild jobless.

Massie thought things would be easy. She had looked for ward to seventh period actually, but she should have known that by her history that things didn't usually go too well for her. The first sign of trouble, Derrick Harrington. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th , and 5th? Cam, Kemp, Josh, and Chris, who followed after the boy equivalent of alpha into 7th period.

The PC groaned as they watched the five boys file into the room and took the five desks just two rows behind them. At least there was some space between the two cliques and not like the seating situation they had earlier that day in the auditorium.

Mr. Alcibur was a man of at least fourty something. He wasn't too old and didn't look too bad for a man his age as well.

He had dark hair, a receding hair line but at least he still had hair. His eyes were a stormy gray and he had tiny wrinkles already forming around them. The man had thin pale pink lips and he wore a gray suit that almost matched the color of his eyes. He had a blue tie on, and he touched it slightly throughout class, which in fact did bother Massie.

All in all, he looked like the every so inspiring writer she saw in the back of those (divorce?) books that her parents always seemed to keep around the house but never got to read it. Massie skimmed through one of his life coaching books once, yet put it down right away. She was bored that day and the book was even more boring than that day itself.

Alcibur scanned the room before placing himself in his desk. He smiled, warming yet not too much so as to make kids think of him "teacher/friend" material. "Welcome! Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life."

Massie rolled her eyes. Another life speech followed by the class syllabus. The first day was too pointless for words...

"I am Mr. Alcibur," he wrote on the chalk board with basic white chalk. "And I will be your teacher this year and hopefully be teaching here for many years to come." His tone wasn't overly friendly, it was just basic. He was like giving them direction almost. Directions on who he was and what he was about. At least he didn't try to be cool and "relatable" like most teachers did, which in the end back fired on them because they so did not look cool or relatable at all what-so-ever. "This year we will experiment in writing, obviously. We will search in your minds, hearts, heck even our finger tips and but that all in writing. I want to know everything about you. But, on paper," he cracked a small smile.

 _My biggest secret. I hate Derrick Harrington and his merry band of idiots, oh wait! Not a secret. Not at all..._

"Today I want to start with a little exercise, just so I can learn something about your guys," he began as he moved from his desk to pacing around the rows of desks, finding everyone's faces and looking around the room as if he were memorizing the area. "We'll start with introducing ourselves then saying a fact about our self."

He stopped just in front of Chris Plovert's desk. Massie had to turn around to look at him. "Any starters?" he stared for a raised hand yet none came. "I guess I'll begin." Alcibur walked quickly back to the front of the room behind the safety of his desk. "My name is Torrence Alcibur, but you will call me Mr. Alcibur or Mr. A if Alcibur is too hard to remember...I write books. You know what that is right?" Everybody nodded their heads, wondering if that was some kind of lame joke or something. "You do? Oh-alright, alright great! I wasn't too sure with all of you glued to your phones. Didn't know if you knew what those pages that were pulled together were." This earned him laughs from students.

Alcibur's eyes narrowed in on Alicia who sat starting at her phone that rested on her lap. Massie tried to nudge the Latina but Alcibur got to her first. "You there!" Alicia's head shot up and she blushed.

"Yes?"

"Why don't you start," Alcibur gave her a cheeky grin.

"W-wha-start with what?" Alicia furrowed her brows.

"State your name and a fact."

Alicia sighed and put her phone down on the table. She rose and fixed her skirt while doing so. Some guy whistled but Alicia played it off cool. Massie wondered if the Latina even heard it to be honest. "Hi, I'm Alicia Rivera and I announce the morning news for Westchester."

"Ahh, newsies. Great but Alicia as a woman of mass media and knowing what goes on so you may tell your fellow students, you may want to stop staring at that phone screen," he sighed. "Hand it over."

"What!?"

"I'm serious Rivera. C'mon now. Clock's ticking. Tick-tock, tick-tock." Alicia groaned as she got up and handed him her phone. "Great. New student, you..." he pointed at Chris.

Chris stood. "I'm Chris Plovert and...uh, well my favorite show is _American Dad_."

"I'm more of a _Family Guy_ kinda guy myself, but whatever floats your boat." The class laughed. "Next you," he pointed at Derrick.

"I'm Derrick Harrington and I'm captain of the varsity soccer team," Derrick spoke with what seemed like all the confidence in the world. Some guys hollered and girls giggled. Massie rolled her eyes. She didn't see what was so great about Derrick anyways. Soccer was soccer. So what?

This continued on for what seemed like ages.

"I'm Claire Lyons and I'm...originally from Flordia? That-th-that counts as a fact, right?"

"I'm Cam Fisher and I play soccer."

"I'm Kemp Hurley and, yes the rumors are true, I slept with the Bradley sisters over the summer."

"I'm Annabeth Wails and my dad owns the fishing boat company just east of here."

"I'm Noah Borros and I like Ted Andrews."

"I'm Kristen Greggory and I play for the varsity girls' soccer team."

"I'm Dylan Marvil and my mom's Merri-Lee Marvil, the talk show host."

"I'm Josh Hotz and I love baseball."

...finally the numbers dwindled down until Massie and some other little freshman was left. Why a freshman got into this class, Massie didn't know but that didn't matter.

Massie stood, flipping her hair and smiled to the general population of the class. She noticed that Derrick refused to make eye contact with her but that mattered close to nothing to her.

"Hi, I'm Massie Block and I wish I had stayed in London." The class laughed, and some other joined in agreement about coming back to Westchester.

"Ah yes," Alcibur laughed. "I wish summer vacation was still on-going as well Ms. Block yet we all can't get what we want." _Definitely._

"Next," Alicbur pointed at the freshman boy who had camera lens on his desk and mousy brown hair.

"I'm Charlie Plattski and I wanna know why Massie Block and Derrick Harrington hate each other."

Massie's head snapped back to where the boy stood, glaring daggers at him. The boys sunk down at Massie's obvious harsh expression. "I-I'm sorry. I was just...n-nev-n-nevermind."

Derrick only laughed, and looked Massie in the eye for once with something other than detest. Amusement.

"This isn't funny Harrington," Massie frowned. Why wasn't he mad? This was about him too."

"Really? It's hilarious Block. Because of how dramatic you are, even little freshman who don't know us wanna know all about us."

"Me!?" Massie gassped.

"Yes you, Mrs. Drama. You're the queen Mass, doesn't that make you happy?" Derrick laughed, leaning back in his seat as all his friends snickered.

"A-actually we do know you! You're Derrick Harrington! The f-first junior to get a captain position a-a-a-and you went to ch-cha-c-cham-championship as a fresh-m-man!" the boy, Charlie, could barely get out.

"Oh, maybe you do know us..."

"Whatever you're ridiculous, blaming the whole thing on me."

"It is your fault," Derrick pointed out as if it were the most obvious thing.

"Is not! Take it back!" Massie felt like such a child but Derrick had that way of making her feel vulnerable. He made her feel so small.

"You started the rumors about me pushing you into the pool," Derrick wasn't laughing anymore, in fact he looked pissed. "Captain's mad at me now about pushing some girl in a pool, which I never did."

"I never said that!" Massie looked as if Derrick had lost his mind, and in her mind, he had. "I never said anything like that to anyone! Actually, I haven't said a word about the barbecue because all I wanna do is forget about it!"

"Great! Then forget Mass. Just leave it and stop causing a scene," Derrick sighed.

"Me!?"

"Yes, _you_! You always have to be so dramatic."

"At least I don't run away from my problems!" Massie snapped.

That shut Derrick up, but only for a second. The blonde haired boy was just about to speak until Mr. Alcibur shut him up once again. "There will be no arguing in this class! Enough! Both of you!"

"Of course you're dimwitted 'leader' would start drama," Alicia spoke to Josh who gave her an icy glare.

"Shut it Rivera. Mass and Derrick aren't the only ones with problems here."

"Oh, clearly," Alicia said in a stickily sweet voice that made Josh want to puke. He knew Alicia for what she really was and that most definitely wasn't innocent.

"Don't get too pissed Hotz," Kemp gave him a lazy smile. "We should have known that those bitches would say something."

"HEY! You don't call ladies that Hurley," Mr. Alcibur was yelling now, seeing red. "What is wrong with all of you!?"  
"It's their fault Mr. Alcibur!' Dylan butted in. "It always is."

"Shut up Dylan," Chris, surprisingly spoke up.

"Tell her Plovert!" Kemp high fived his best friend. Dylan fumed, her face almost turning as red as her fiery red hair. Dylan almost rose to get up, but Kristen held her back.

"Don't Dyl, they're not worth shit."

"Language young lady!" Alcibur tried to control the two groups, yet nothing worked as they bickered anyways.

...After the end of the period, Kristen Greggory raised a hand to Kemp Hurley's face yet nothing was done as Mr. Alcibur stopped it. He led a crying Kristen outside of the class as principal Kensington rounded up the rest of the members of both groups.

"You're all very lucky," Kensington sighed as he threw the detention slip down on his desk. Massie, Derrick, Alicia, Dylan, Claire, Cam, Chris, Kemp, Kristen, and Josh all stood against the wall of their principal's desk, each conveying some sort of emotion on their faces. "Each of you have a date with the school Saturday morning. 8-12. Don't be late."


	3. Brady Bunch or the Breakfast Club

**Sooooo.**

 **Inspiration for this chapter kinda just came out of my ass.**

 **Literally.**

 **Actually, as I was getting uninspired once again (but not abandoning, of course not) I started rereading the Game of Thrones book series by George RR Martin. Brilliant show and book btw, very HIGHLY RECCOMEND. Anywayyyyys, I just love his writing and that kinda put me back onto track with this chapter.**

 **I like to put up chapters as quick as I can though I do like to take my time just to make sure it's good and up to my standards.**

 **I sincerely hope that they are up to yours :)**

 **PS. REVIEWS ARE GREAT *nudge nudge wink wink***

* * *

Chapter 3

Brady Bunch or the Breakfast Club

 _Dylan_

Saturday morning was meant for sleeping in after the big Friday night foot ball game a few hours prior. It was meant for actually eating breakfast after rushing to school for five days and skipping the "most important meal of the day." Saturday morning was meant for a lot of things but not detention.

"Marvil, Hurley, Hotz, Plovert, and Greggory, I want the five of your working _all_ five hours," principal Kensington scowled at the five teens standing right in front of him. He fixed a hard stare at each of them, making sure they knew that he wasn't joking around. Principal Kensington was a tall, lean, but no where near muscular man with bushy eye brows and faded honey brown hair with streaks of gray. He always wore a suit, even to family picnics at the park. Kensington was stern and didn't like Westchester, in fact the entire student body thought he hated the school even more so than the students themselves. "There will be no lollygagging while you bunch are here. Always causing a trouble, you lot," Kensington scowled. He had a British accent too, a little fun fact that most people forgot to mention. Born and raised in Liverpool, or so it was said.

Dylan wondered how someone coming from the birthplace of the Beatles could be so...uncool.

"Anyways, head janitor Manjack will be advising you. You're all to collect the garbage from the stands and please be thorough, you'll help box up the left over foods from the concession stand, and you will pick up trash from the football field itself. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir," all five tired kids spoke with not much life in their voices. Most of them were very much still half asleep.

"While you're all here maybe the five of you will learn a thing about humility and maybe learn to get along, yeah?"

"Doubt it," Kemp yawned. He wore red and black flannel pajamas and a loose gray shirt. Dylan scrunched her nose in disgust. _Ew, fashion police services needed..._

"Enough with your smart remarks Hurley," principal Kensington sighed, looking as if he hadn't gotten much sleep either. "Can't you just give me a break?"

"It wouldn't be me if I didn't sir," Kemp flashed him a cheeky grin.

"Right," Kensington grumbled. "Whatever."

Under the sun, Dylan felt the heat sticking her clothes tighter to her skin if that were even possible. Her hair stuck to her head, sweat beading down her face. She didn't know that she'd be out here after all. Dylan thought that she would be in the library of some sorts. That's what most detentions were like anyways.

Dylan, ever so the fashion guru, dressed in _True Religion_ jeans and a tight white top. She regretted it immediately. Sucking in got old and she felt even more fat next to Alicia. It didn't matter that she didn't crush on Kemp and Chris like she did back in the 7th or that she didn't date Chris any longer, she still wanted to the boys to think of her as hot like everybody did Massie, Alicia, and Kristen. Even Claire had that cute innocent "angel face" thing going for her but Dylan had close to nothing. Sure, she was the fiery red head of the group but that was the only interesting thing about her.

She was fat and gross and her mother was tv's most annoying personality or so Dylan was sure she was.

Dylan took a break and wiped the sweat off her brow from the back of her hand. She sat on the bleachers and stared out at the sun. Behind the football field, the sky really did look beautiful. It was colors of bright yellow and gold mixing in with hues of blue and cotton white clouds.

Even feeling overly heated, Dylan could appreciate the beauty of the sky and the sun in it although she couldn't quite thank the sun for making her face pink.

"Up and at em' Dylan," Josh Hotz spoke as he moved past her, garbage bag in hand. He dragged his back behind him until he climbed up three steps in front of her. "If I'm doing work _you_ are too. No slacking."

Dylan groaned. "Oh shut up Hotz I'm hot."

"Interesting choice of words there," Josh smirked.

"Once again, shut up," Dylan snipped. She lost the annoying look on her face and gave Josh a sly smile. He stopped what he was doing and stared down at the red head who was giving him a funny look.

"What?" Josh snapped.

"A little birdie told me about you and Skye Hamilton. Didn't know you had a thing for older girls? That's so like Skye though. Such a cougar."

"By little birdie do you mean the foreign bird Alicia Rivera?"

"Perhaps."

"How does she know everything?" Josh asked him garbage more than Dylan himself, looking at it with awe almost.

"You're so weird," Dylan sighed. "You should know by now anyways. It's Alicia, hulloo? Besides you _did_ date her after all. You def should know by that."

"I'm so over Rivera," Josh said.

"Sure you are."

"Shut up Marvil.

"Sure thing Hotz."

Josh moved on up the bleachers while Dylan worked more downwards. Looking up ahead as she picked up two old bags of chips, Dylan stared up at Kemp and Chris playing football on the field.

"Hey!" Dylan screamed. No response. The ball continued to be tossed.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

"Hey!" she tried again. "Uh, hello! Chris and man-whore! We're cleaning up not throwing around the football!"

This stopped the boys, and Kemp caught the football before giving Dylan a dirty look. Chris stared at Dylan with an odd look in his eyes. Dylan shifted uncomfortably in her spot almost wishing that she had never said anything.

"You know Dylan, calling me a man-whore isn't going to make you wanting me any more easier love," Kemp winked as Chris punched him in the shoulder, laughing along with his best friend.

"Shut up Hurley and just clean up!"

Alicia appeared suddenly into Dylan's view, with her hands on her hip. From behind her, Dylan could see both Chris and Kemp checking her out. Of course they were. Who wouldn't right?

"I can't even tell you how boring boxing up food is," Alicia sighed, as the Latina applied lip gloss that she pulled out suddenly from her pocket. "Seriously, Dyl I'm so glad to be helping you."

"You and I both," Dylan groaned as she handed Alicia a garbage bag. "You can start more at top. The fan section was there last night so there was a lot of mess."

Alicia looked up as saw Josh picking up garbage and she sighed. Biting her lip, Alicia gave Dylan a nervous look, "Oh, do I have to Dyl? Seriously it's Josh! You know how that is."

"I've been sweating out here for ages Leesh, I think you can suffer another two hours with Josh Hotz."

"Barely," Alicia frowned but took her garbage bag up to where Josh was at anyways. At the sound of her approaching, Josh turned and acknowledged Alicia only to go back to his work. The Latina looked awkwardly at him for a few moments until turned to the other side of him and began bending over, picking up garbage.

Dylan turned and saw Josh staring at her ass, not even bothering to hide it. _What a pig_.

"Alright Rivera! Don't even bother standing up love," Dylan heard Kemp yell from his spot on the field up the Latina, who in return turned her head and flicked him off. The boy laughed a good hearted laugh and continued on to play football.

"I'll just leave all the bending over to Hotz," Alicia laughed and turned to face Josh who was still checking her out. She raised a brow and Josh coughed, turning around acting as if he wasn't just caught by his ex.

Alicia stared down at Dylan and winked.

Of course all the boys wanted Alicia. The Latina was wearing a white sweater and leggings, probably something she threw on this morning and still looked more beautiful than Dylan would if she were in a fancy glittery dress.

Suddenly, all Dylan wanted to do was take off that annoyingly tight shirt and take a cold shower, eat chocolate (though that was the last thing she needed at the moment), and huddle up in a blanket while she curled in a ball and thought long and hard about how much she didn't care that she didn't look like Alicia Rivera.

Because she didn't...

No, Dylan didn't care at all.

* * *

 _Claire_

 **9:10am, Saturday morning detention.**

This was absolute torture.

Claire sighed, picking up a stack of papers and filing them into shelves (A-C). Honestly, Claire didn't think that she could make it through another 3 hours of this torture.

The teachers lounge was cold, the air conditioner blasting cold air that hit Claire's back almost harshly. She shivered although thankful that she grabbed a jacket before she left her house. When she got in the Range Rover that morning, Massie gave her a distasteful glare but didn't say a word. The alpha wasn't too pleased with her self for basically getting them all detention but Massie would never admit that.

Claire, although living in the Block's guest house, still saw Massie quite often, as did she see the true alpha and not the girl who hid behind makeup and designer clothes to fool everybody. Massie Block was still just a girl but nobody hardly noticed.

To most she was Massie Block the pretty committee alpha not a teenage girl with feelings, wants, and desires.

Though Claire was always jealous of Massie in every aspect of life, she was secretly grateful that she wasn't her. Sure back in middle school all she wanted to be was like Massie. Even through all that Massie did to her and all that Claire suffered through, she had wanted to be juts like Massie Block. All girls did.

Then as they grew up Massie's problems became much larger and not just what to wear to some birthday party. As Massie's problems grew, so did the alpha's walls. Claire was the only one to see behind it, or so she believed. Even Massie didn't know that Claire saw her stuff her face in the kitchens at midnight because she "wasn't hungry" at dinner, or that Claire heard Massie cry randomly on the steps before making her way up to the room.

Claire frowned.

She didn't know exactly what was wrong all the time and it was normal for teens to feel moody, yet Massie had problems and nobody noticed. Either that, or nobody cared to notice.

Deciding to put it out of her head for a while, Claire went back to her work and filed papers as she listened to Kristen's tapping on her phone and Cam's whistling.

They had all been split up into pairs. Chris, Kemp, Alicia, Dylan, and Josh were sent to the football field to clean up, Derrick and Massie being the "ring leaders" in the whole thing got to work in the library, and Kristen, Cam, and Claire were left to organize papers in the teacher's lougne.

Why on earth principal Kensington ever thought to have Cam and Claire in a room together for four whole hours, Claire would never know.

"I can't wait for this to be done," Claire heard Kristen murmur as her finger tips swept across her phone screen, vaguely reminding Claire of Alicia who always seemed to have her eyes darting across one thing or another on her phone. Krirsten was mostly likely texting Dempsey if anything. Lately, the two were inseparable other than when the pair were in school.

"You and I both Greggory," Cam continued to whistle on as he kicked his feet across one of the circular wooden tables and flipped through a portfolio of papers. "Geez, Mr. Grady has a lot of grading to do next week."

Kristen scrunched her nose as she pulled out a green folder filled with papers up from under one of the desks. "Mrs. Murtha has got to get her shit together."

Cam Fisher laughed and Claire stiffened, feeling her head get lighter.

How dare he sit there and laugh and act as though everything was okay and that he hadn't been a complete piece of shit to her for the past two years? Claire's jaw clenched as she forcefully arranged papers. Good thing her back was turned to both Cam and Kristen. She didn't really think she'd be able to hide her emotions well in front of him.

Another few minutes of silence and Cam spoke again.

"How's that Solomon of yours doing Greggory?" Claire turned to watch the pair exchange words. "Not causing too much trouble I hope."

Kristen gave him a questioning raised brow as she picked her head up from looking at her phone. "No..."  
"Good. I don't want him getting hurt or not being able to participate in soccer...at least until after Westchester beats Valmont."

"And here I thought you were the mature one Cameron," Kristen scowled as she put her phone aside and continued on organizing paper's from one of the teacher's desks.

Claire went on with her work, turning back around but continuing to listen any ways.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cam gave her a fixed glare.

"I just thought that you didn't stoop down to the level that Kemp usually did but I guess I was wrong."

Cam continued to glare but for some reason Claire felt his eyes bore in the back of her head. She shifted uncomfortably in her spot as she felt Cam's eyes on her. It had been so long since they were, and last time he really looked at her it was still with adoration in his eyes. Now it was just detest.

"Well maybe Hurley was right about all of you pretty committee girls."

"And what would that be?

"Used up trash."

Kristen stood up and Claire heard her chair loudly hit the pegs of the desk. Claire jumped for a moment then quickly composed herself. "Oh shut it Cameron you're just as bad! Sleeping around with the entire female population isn't going to do you any good in the long run."

"It's doing me good now," Claire could practically hear the smirk on his face. The air blew harder and colder if that were even possible at that very moment, adding on to the stressful moment between Claire's ex and one of her best friends.

Claire shoved the files back harder into the filing cabinet than she thought and immediately regretted it when the cabinet banged hard into the wall.

"You okay Claire?" Kristen asked, clearly concerned.

"Fine," Claire spat out. She bit her lips and slowly looked to her side, where she saw Cam watching her almost in awe. It was weird really. Every since their break up they were nothing but unfortunate acquaintances. Not enemies, but at the same time nothing really. If it weren't for their friends hating each other than Claire and Cam wouldn't have any need to see each other but as much as both groups hated it, the pretty committee and the Briarwood/soccer boys were always tied together. It was like an eternal knot.

Claire sighed and fixed her hair, flipping pieces here and there. She turned and made her way to a circular table between Kristen and Cam's tables and started to work on more papers needing to be organized.

She was now organizing Mr. Yews' physics notes. After a while of shuffling around note cards and papers, Claire had enough and put her head down.

This was horrible. What teenager wanted to spend their Saturday morning going through notes and organizing folders and papers when they could be sleeping it? It wasn't even Claire's fault either. She wasn't the one who had the almost mental break down. That was Krsiten. She didn't call anybody a slut or a whore and she most certainly didn't even say anything that bad to any of the Briarwood boys.

Glaring up at him, Claire scowled at Cam Fisher.

Even after all this time he had that affect on her. He was perfect.

Cam Fisher was sweet to her and nothing but a prince. After they broke up, he drifted away from that image but even still he was still so perfect.

Calm, cool, and collected. Cam was the definition of laid back and relaxed. The way he looked at just about anything gave away the idea that he didn't really care about anything. Though Derrick was constantly finding himself in trouble, Cam Fisher didn't really care much. He wasn't manipulative like Josh Hotz or a problem starter like infamous Kemp Hurley. He wasn't too put off like Chris Plovert either. Cam was just calm about every situation. He stood up for his friends when needed and then after he went back to being...well, being just Cam.

But he could never be _just Cam_.

When he walked in the room every girl's head turned. He was electric and everybody wanted to talk to him even if he gave off the perception that he didn't want to talk to anybody or that he just didn't care to start conversation.

It was weird how far they had come.

Long gone was the Cam who bought Claire gummies, the one who wanted to kiss her in ther rain, the horrible singer, the loving boyfriend, the good friend...he was so different now yet still so _cool_. Everybody wanted to get to know him. Claire didn't blame them.

Sighing, Claire decided that she slacked off on her work and went back to the note cards. It didn't do her any good to think about Cam Fisher. It didn't do her good then and most certainly not now.

* * *

 _Alicia_

Alicia Rivera was beautiful.

She had dark brown almost black hair that went down to her back and her eyes were a lighter chestnut color, although still dark and warm. Her skin was olive and she was toned. It wasn't even a question how nice Alicia's body was.  
To make it blunt, she had a nice rack and chest. Her curves were to die for and there wasn't a single hair on her that was out of place.

Alicia Rivera was voluptuous, lovely, and flawless.

Right now however...Alicia felt so out of place.

The heat was getting to her and being next to her ex Josh Hotz while picking up garbage with a stick wasn't her idea of fun. It wasn't where you'd imagine to see the flawless Latina.

"You know Rivera," Josh spoke from his side of the bleachers. "If you go any slower we'll be here by dinner."

Alicia scowled and glared up at Josh from her position bent over. "You always know how to sweet talk a girl Hotz. Really, I admire you for it."

Standing up straight, Alicia licked her lips and stared up at the sun. She'd do anything for an air conditioned room right about now. Her throat was dry and she needed water. _Two more bleachers Alicia,_ she'd tell herself. Then she could have her water and be rid of the thorn in her side, Josh Hotz.

"So in the case that you do go any slower, where should we go for dinner Rivera? Clearly we'll still be here around that time. I was thinking something outdoorsy," Josh flashed her a cheeky grin. His eyes lit up with him smile. Stupid eyes. Stupid Josh Hotz.

"I'll kill you."

"At least buy a guy dinner first Rivera."

Alicia's fingers twitched and she had to fight the temptation of flinging trash at Josh Hotz's head of dark brown locks. "Oh go fuck yourself."  
Josh laughed, which surprised the Latina if anything. Didn't he hate her just a few days ago? Now they were joking around as if nothing had ever happened...ugh. This was just like something the boys would do. Toy with your emotions then lead you to believe something that just wasn't there.

Alicia was tired of it, after all that's what ended their friendships a few months ago anyways.

The pair worked in silence until they only had an hour left of detention.

Kemp and Chris had finally gotten their shit together and worked on picking up trash from the grass. After they helped with the stands. Dylan was almost done, her garbage bag almost filled to the top. Already, the red head had five bags filled up. Whatever compelled Dylan to work so hard, well, Alicia could only wish of having a bit of it.

The Latina didn't feel like working. Her hair was getting frizzy and her face felt hot. She was sure she was red too, which wasn't okay. Reaching for the hair tie on her wrist, Alicia put her hair in a high pony tail and quickly went back to work.

From the corner of her eye she could see head janitor Manjack watching them with beedy little eyes, all judging and no comfort.

"What a creep, right?"

Alicia looked up quickly at Josh who was standing in front of her as well as he was in front of the sun which was a relief for Alicia.

"Who? Oh- Manjack? Yeah, he's...he's weird."

Alicia mentally slapped herself for stuttering. What was she doing? This wasn't her.

"At least we're almost done," Josh viewed all they had completed. "I need a shower."

"Definitely," Alicia muttered and went back to picking up garbage. The gloves almost slipped off her hands. Why wasn't there a small seize anyways? It seemed the only glove sizes they had were large and extra large.

"What's your deal Rivera? You seem a bit put off..."

Alicia glared up at Josh. "Why are you talking to me? Shouldn't you be making out with Skye Hamilton?"  
A small smile crept up on Josh's face. "Ah-so this is what it's about."

"Considering I don't know what _it_ is, then I wouldn't really know that you're talking about now would I?"

Josh sat. Alicia could smell his Dior cologne. _Idiot_.

"I didn't think you were the jealous type Rivera."

"Well then good thing I'm not Hotz."

"A bit hostile don't you think?" Josh flashed her a smile. "I know our friends hate each other and we haven't been in the best spot for a while now but I'm willing to let go. After all, we are going to be doing the morning announcements and all...I think the school would appreciate it if their class reps didn't bitch each other out every morning. Though, it would be funny ya know?It wouldn't be Westchester if there wasn't some sort of drama at breakfast."

Josh's smile slightly faltered when he saw Alicia's face stiffen. The Latina stood up straight and put her garbage bag down next to his feet. "First of all, we're not friends so I don't even know why you're bothering to start conversation. Second, since when did you care what people thought of us? And third...well, the only thing good for this school is if you and your stupid soccer playing freaks finally graduated."

Josh continued to grin up at her as if her words never even affected him. "Are you done?"

Alicia's cheeks flushed. "Y-yes."

"Good-oh, and I think you're just jealous. When the PC had us you were unstoppable. Hell, I'll even admit that. But since then you have to admit you guys have faltered and me and my guys decided to live it up and not let our middle school crushes let us down."

Alicia attempted to speak but Josh cut her off. "Also, why do you care about me and Skye? Clearly a part of you still cares..."

"Oh no no no no no. This is where I get to speak."

That cut Josh off.

"Again, me and my girls haven't faltered. We may not attend the same jock held parties but we go out to more sophisticated places. People like us better than you and your bumbling idiots. The boys of this school are just scared of you and the girls who throw themselves at you are useless sluts with no substance. They're good for one thing and one night, and I'm sure you've all realized that." Alicia just became aware of how loud she was being, seeing as Dylan started to come up the bleachers to her side. "Also, I'm not jealous Josh. Believe me. Have you looked at Skye Hamilton and myself? Yeah, clearly you haven't if you think I'm jealous of that pasty stick. So get your facts straight Josh. You're the one not over me because I've got everything you wish your pathetic three day girlfriends had..."

Alicia began to walk away, then suddenly turned back. "By the way I'm wearing that cute red lace bra I got when we were shopping at VS together and I'm sure someone else will be taking it off tonight. Just a thought... _asshole_."

Alicia practically ran past Dylan who had a smile playing on her face.

"Yeah!" Dylan screamed up at Josh. "Asshole!"

The pair walked off the field together, despite head janitor Manjack's pleas.

* * *

 _Massie_

There was no greater punishment than putting Massie Block and Derrick Harrington together for four hours in the school's large library. It was so grandiose, with tall windows and ceilings. Marble floors and polished wooden desks that always seemed to shine. The books were endless...they went on forever and ever and ever.

But, seemingly the library wasn't large enough for both Massie and Derrick. They two were stuck together like glue, unfortunately.

"Next shelf Block," Derrick droned on. "...I can't wait to be done with this."

"You and I both," Massie rolled her eyes, immediately regretting wearing a skirt. Whenever she climbed up the ladder she could feel Derrick's eyes on her.

Good thing she wore cute underwear...

"Let's get to it then," Derrick tapped the ladder. "Up and at em' Block."

Massie rolled her eyes again (it seemed like she was doing that a lot lately) and went up, slow.

"Which book," she called down, catching Derrick looking up at her.

She thought she saw him blush but she was most likely over thinking it. He hurriedly looked down at the list give to them three hours prior by Mrs. Lockkeep. "Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen."

Massie looked up.

Authors, _Aty, Atz, Aua, Auc, Aum, Aur, Aus...Austen._ Massie's eyes scanned through Jane Austen works. There was _Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility,_ and finally... _Pride and Prejudice_.

Grabbing the dusty book, she threw it down to Derrick who almost hissed. "Hey watch it! The binding is fragile."

Massie laughed as she climbed down the ladder. "The binding is fragile? Oh, are you kidding me!?" she giggled. It was the first time she felt at ease that entire day.

"You basically threw it at me Block, what did you want me to do? Be happy about it?" Derrick grinned a childish grin. It was the smile Massie grew up with.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for throwing it at you Harrington! You're poor baby Jane Austen," Massie laughed as she grabbed the book from Derrick's grasp. She made fake kissing noises at it. "Are you jealous?" she smirked.

"Oh very," Derrick wriggled his brows. The pair moved closer. "You know how much I love Jane Austen."

"You don't even know what this book is about."

"Yes I do."

"Really Derrick? Then please, do tell," Massie teased as she clutched the book close to her chest.

"It's about someone with too much pride and the other person has..er-prejudice against he prideful person."

Massie bore a soft smile on her face. "You're not wrong."  
"See! I told you I know what I'm talking about. You shouldn't doubt me Block."

"What are their names."

"Excuse me?"  
"The main characters. What are their names."

"Um. Prinda and...uh, Prudence?"  
Massie threw her head back and laughed. She hit Derrick with the book, who playfully took it off of her. "Watch it Block!"

"Prinda? What kind of name is Prinda!" Massie giggled.

"I don't know," Derrick joined her in laughter.

The pair shook in laughter, almost forgetting all of their troubles and their past. Massie stared up at Derrick. She had forgotten his eyes.

They were a warm brown, comforting and kind. She gave a small smile, sweet smile then remembered who exactly they were and what they were doing.

"Uh..." Massie cleared her throat. "W-we better get started. At the rest..."

"Right," Derrick's shoulders dropped. "I'll move the ladder."

Massie followed after him lamely as Derrick moved through the book shelves, trying to find the next area they were supposed to be. Massie wasn't sure exactly they were doing to be honest. They had gotten a list of books they were to collect at the beginning of the day and they had been doing just that. They had a break of course, around 9:30 the pair were able to sit down, but at that time they were organizing note cards in alphabetical order.

It was so tiring and Massie needed an actual break.

"Mass!"

Both Massie and Derrick whirled around, though with much difficulty on Derrick's part (he did have the ladder) to search for the bell like voice that called to them. It definitely wasn't the school's old hag of a librarian.

"Mass thank goodness!" Alicia Rivera appeared out of no where with Josh Hotz following behind her.

Josh leaned against the book shelf and eyed Derrick suspiciously. "What's with the ladder."

"Long story."

"Ah."

Alicia hugged Massie who was more than happy to see her best friend. "Thank goodness Leesh, it's about time I've been miserable."

"Me too! The heat was killing me."

"What are you two doing here?" Massie raised a brow. She could tell that Alicia and Josh were tense. Was it because of each other? Most likely.

"I-I kinda ran out of the field and Manjack made _him_ follow," Alicia glared at Josh who only offered her a cheeky grin.

"He didn't make me Rivera, I offered. I'm chivalrous like that."  
"As if Hotz!"

"Ouch. You act as if you weren't the one who bitched at me just earlier."

Derrick sighed. "As much as I love hearing you two fight, Block and I have to finish."

"Oh, please you should hear you and Mass bicker," Alicia shoved past Derrick. Massie followed, sending a surprising apologetic glance at both boys.

What was with her? This wasn't how an alpha was supposed to act.

"Leesh!" Massie called after her, chasing the Latina around the library. "Alicia! Slow down!" Massie finally caught up to her and grabbed her by her shirt. The Latina finally stopped and stomped her foot on the marble floor.

"I hate him!"

"Who?"

"Josh! Duh. Who did you think?"

"Derrick..."

"Oh please, Derrick's your pain in the ass not mine."

Massie had to give Alicia that.

"Josh tried to give me a speech about me being jealous of Skye fucking Hamilton then attempted to become friends! Can you believe it? It's as if the past few months never exsisted to him. That's exactly why we can't be friends. He's too-tooo...ugh! I don't know!"

"Too much like Derrick?" Massie crossed her arms and gave her friend a sad smile. "Sorry Leesh. You know how all those boys are though. They follow after Derrick, the biggest coward I know."

"Right," Alicia breathed in and out. It was like yoga breathing, Massie thought. "Right. Good point. The whole bunch of them...just, they're just idiots."

"Exactly," Massie moved to hug her. "They aren't worth our while."

The pair hugged, and it was then three other figures joined them.

"Hey now we wanna be apart of the love fest," Dylan Marvil appeared out of nowhere it seemed. Her red hair stuck up in various directions, not as sleek as it was that morning when the teens were parted into groups.

"Dylan? What are you doing here? Kristen? Claire!?"

"Hello to you too Mass," Kristen sighed. "We've all been released to the library."

"What for?"

"Dunno," Claire said. "Apparently we've been told you two were too slow."

"Well it's just the two of us doing a shit load of things what did they expect?"

"Who knows," Dylan sighed. "I just need a nap and a good pedicure. My feet are _killing_ me. Even worse...I think my nail polish chipped off."

Kristen rolled her eyes at the red head. "Oh no, what a Greek tragedy."

"Shut up," Dylan stuck her tongue out.

"I'm just glad you're all here. If I had to spend one more second with Derrick Harrington I was about to flip."

Suddenly another five figures joined the pretty committee. "What about me Block?" Derrick Harrington smirked. He was back to his usual cocky self, Massie noticed. He was a lot quieter when it was just the two of them. They even had that semi-friendly moment back just a few minutes ago. That hadn't lasted long though, not like Massie expected it too anyways...

"I was just telling my girls how I'd die if I spent another second with you," Massie spoke playfully.

"Same here," Derrick smirked.

"They've let us go early," Chris interrupted.

"We haven't finished though," Massie frowned. Now that was definitely confusing.

"Told ya. Maybe you and Derrick were too slow they decided to let you both go," Dylan murmured.

Massie shot her a glare.

"Maybe they've been too slow because they've been a little _preoccupied_. Am I right Derrick?" Kemp Hurley joked, wiggling his brows in a suggestive manner.

Derrick playfully hit Kemp in the shoulder and told him to shut up. "As if."

"What he said," Massie countered. "I'd never let that freak touch me."

"You did before," Derrick didn't miss a beat.

Massie felt the heat reach up to her face. She was certain she was flushed and red now. Blushing wasn't something alpha's did though. Then why wasn't it stopping? "Yeah well that was before and this is now..."

"What is this, the Brady bunch?" another voice came out of nowhere. It was principal Kensington, who looked just as tired as any of the ten teen facing him. He emerged randomly from the book shelves. His sleeves were rolled up and his face red, as if he was out in the sun with the kids.

"No sir. I'd like to think we're the breakfast club but more nicely dressed," Alicia Rivera smirked. This earned a few laughs from both the boys and girls.

"Knock it off Rivera," Kensington grimaced. "I'm in enough pain and I wanna go home. I can't do that until you hooligans leave...in that case, _go home_."

Their principal then turned his back and disappeared from where he came.

"That...was weird," spoke Chris Plovert.

"Definitely," Dylan mused.

Even with the weird encounter with their school principal, Massie still felt the awkward tension in the air from her and Derrick's previous conversation.

Had principal Kensington heard all of that? Oh great.

"If you'll excuse me boys. We're leaving," Massie decided to take initiative.  
"Don't go yet Mass!" it was Kemp Hurley who surprisingly called her attention back to the group of five boys.

The pretty committee stopped in their tracks, staring the boys down as if they were predators who had just caught their prey. Their prey didn't seem scared though, they seemed eager. Maybe it was the other way around...

"Abigail Yustman is having a party tonight. First of the year. She told me to invite everyone."

"Abigail Yustman? Senior? Volleyball..." Kristen went on.

"That's the one," Kemp winked. "Gotta nice rack too."

"Shut up Hurley," Kristen scowled.

"What's wrong? Jealous?" Kemp smirked.

"As if."

Massie put herself between the two before anything bad happened... _again_. "Abigail already invited us, but thanks anyways...I'm guessing you and your pack of wild dogs will be there," Massie spoke to Derrick who flashed her a wolfish grin. The male alpha pushed himself off the wall where he leaned and stood up so he was facing Massie.

"You know it Block."

"See you there, Harrington"

* * *

 _Derrick_

Life was great. (at the moment)

Derrick Harrington currently had both his arms around the Kinslet twins. Macey and Abby. Or was it Casey and Ashley? Oh whatever. It didn't matter. He was drunk, was going to drink more, and had two hot twins draped around him willing to do whatever.

Yes, life was definitely great.

Then it wasn't.

"Do you have to ruin everything?" Derrick let go of the twins as he saw Massie Block enter the back porch of Abigail Yustman's house. The party was in full swing and anyone who was _anyone_ was already there and drunk.

Of course the PC would be late. They'd be fashionably late as they liked to say but Derrick didn't see what was so great about them. They looked the same as ever. It didn't matter what outfit they wore, not to Derrick at least.

"Nice Derrick," Massie's eyes moved to the twins who looked like they were about to fall asleep on the others' shoulder.

"Thanks dear," Derrick gave her a cheeky smile. "Nice dress Block," he eyed her short red dress. It looked leather and it was tight. _Fuck_. That girl knew what to do to him with out even really knowing it herself. "Can it get any shorter?"  
Massie's face became serious. "Fuck off Derrick." She turned, in which Derrick saw the dress was backless. _Of course it's fucking backless..._

Derrick reached into a small red cooler outside and pulled out a beer. Outside music blared and the crisp fall air seemed like a great change from the heat they had just earlier that morning.

That morning played over in Derrick Harrington's mind, or rather the small moment he shared with Massie.

It was as if they were friends again. It was freshman year and they were joking around in the library.

He was just Derrick and she was just Massie, although she had never been _just Massie_. Massie Block was the talk of Westchester at the age of 13. She was beautiful and daring. Massie Block was braver than she thought, and kind even if she didn't see it.

Derrick saw it. He saw Massie, at least the one he knew two years ago, as the perfect person she was. Massie was brave, kind, dynamic, ambitious, caring, and a bitch although a "brilliant bitch" if that made any sense. She was fierce when protecting those she cared for, even if her ways of being a good friend seemed a bit...well, rude.

Derrick sighed.

That was a Massie he knew a long time ago. She changed, and he did too.

"Derrick," one of the twins purred from the bench. "Come back to us," she giggled. Her twin stood up, hips swaying as she made her way over to us.

"Oh, don't you like us anymore? We'll do whatever you want," she purred.

 _I'm an idiot_ , Derrick thought to himself. He already knew what he was about to do with out doing it. "Sorry ladies, I just gotta go."

"Derry! Don't go!"

Derrick flinched. He hated when people called him that, even when it was just a joke which thankfully it was most of the time.

"Sorry Ashley, Macey. Gotta run."

He turned for the sliding door and back into the party but not before hearing one of the twins yelling that it was Macey and Abby. _Damnnit, I knew I had it right before..._

As Derrick returned to the loud music blaring and drunk teens making out, he scanned the room until he found Josh who was busy talking (fighting) with Skye Hamilton.

"No! It doesn't matter Josh! I saw you staring at whore Rivera!" Sky'es voice was sharp and rather annoying. Derrick shook his head. He didn't know how Josh dealt with her.

"But I didn't! Maybe I glanced at her I don't know!" Josh attempted to defend himself against the raging senior hottie.

"Oh please! I know better!"

Derrick saved his friend and put himself between the two. Smiling he spoke. "You should also know better Skye that you aren't dating my friend over here, so he can look at who ever he wants to look at. Also, even if you were you don't control him."

Skye glared up at Derrick, making him a bit uncomfortable. With that hard stare she was giving him, Derrick was sure it beat even Massie's.

"I can't believe I ever thought you were cute," Skye spat before she stomped off. Behind her, her lackeys followed along. The DSL Daters, or whatever they were called. The senior girl group equivalent of Massie and the pretty committee were made up of Sky Hailton, Cassandra Gantski, Keyndra Layne, and Aleena Circo. All blonde, tan, and very very annoying.

Looking at the blonde foursome stomp off, Derrick shook his head and laughed, handing Josh his beer. "I've got a feeling you need this more than I do."

"Same," Josh took the beer willingly and chugged it.

"Slow down there," Derrick patted his friend's back. "So, have you seen any of the other guys or what?"  
"Nope, can't say I have. What I _have_ seen was a very flustered Massie Block leaving the back porch...which was then followed after you. Care to explain?"

Derrick was silent for a few seconds. "...No, not really."

"Alright then," Josh finished off the beer. He looked down at the empty can. "Maybe I'll have another."

"Good idea," Derrick patted him in the back again (maybe a little too roughly). "I'll grab us some."  
"Maybe something a bit stronger?" Josh suggested.

"Vlad then." Derrick went off to venture into the kitchen where a number of teens searched for food. There was a bowl of buffalo chicken dip which was being savagely attached by various teens. You could still hear the music from the kitchen, which could explain the few dancing teenagers. There were red solo cups thrown around the blue kitchen counters, and plenty spilled on the floor.

Poor Abigail Yustman would have fun cleaning this up tomorrow morning...

"Derrick!" a voice called. To his side was a fellow teammate, Dawson Jenkins. Left center forward for the soccer team, and a junior much like Derrick himself.

Derrick never had a problem with Dawson Jenkins. The guy was nice, practical, and good at soccer which was good for Derrick.

Dawson Jenkins was like every other Westchester teen boy. Rich parents, good looking, and good at sports. He had short dark brown hair and forest green eyes. The guy had very bright white teeth, or so Derrick had noticed, and was built tall and lean. Other than that, Derrick knew almost nothing about Dawson Jenkins.

He was nice. The guy was good at sports and most certainly didn't get on Derrick's bad side. Nope, nothing wrong with the guys at all.

"Hey Dawson," the two boys acknowledged each other before Derrick went back to searching the alcohol cabinet.

A few seconds later, Dawson spoke again. "Looking for something?"  
"Vlad."

"Ah," the brunette searched the table which was filled with bottles and bottles of alcohol. "Here we are," Dawson reached and grabbed a transparent bottle from all the rest.

"Thanks man," Derrick grinned. "Hey, wanna drink this with us? I mean Josh and I."

"Uh, sure!"

Dawson and Derrick made their way back to Josh, who found himself another beer...or two.

"Dawson! Hey!" Josh was giddy, and far too happy to see their left center forward. "I've missed you buddy!" Josh hugged Dawson tightly who awkwardly laughed. Derrick opened the bottle and smirked over at the pair.

"He doesn't wanna hug you Hotz. Now take a sip of this," Derrick handed Josh the bottle right after he had a sip of it himself. It burnt, of course. Derrick should have grabbed a chaser...

"Ouch! That's gonna hurt tomorrow morning," Josh laughed uncontrollably. "What do ya think Harrington?"

"I think you should stop drinking."

"Who are you and what have you done with Derrick Harrington?"

Derrick only laughed and took another sip from the bottle. After tipping his head, he looked up to see Massie Block staring at him from the other side of the room. Despite all of the people, it seemed like they were the only two in the room.

Why did she always do this to him?

Derrick took another sip in an attempt to forget the alpha, who, admittedly, looked hot with that short backless red dress. _Stupid red dress._

After a few more drinks in him the red solo cup in his hand (or rather the few he had discarded through out the night) had become blurry. He could barley see his shoes. All they were was a pair of black blur on the floor. Josh's laughter became slower.

Derrick felt as if everything had gone slow.

His movement was much slower and he couldn't comprehend things as quickly. Not as if he hadn't felt this way before of course...he had plenty of times but it seemed that every time he drank he felt the way he did back in freshman year when he had started. Vulnerable.

Vulnerable was exactly what he was that night too, when he stumbled upon Massie Block sitting outside the porch all alone around 3a.m.

"You know," Derrick slurred as he closed the sliding door behind him. "It's dangerous for a girl to be alone at night."

He stumbled until he fell onto the chair that he previously sat on with the Kinslet twins not too long ago. It was weird how things changed so quickly. In only about an hour the party out doors took itself entirely in. Now, it was only Massie and Derrick.

Why was it always the two of them?

Massie turned her shoulder to glance at the boy she once knew, drink in hand. She was standing, a vision of glory under the pale moon. It was beautiful, and so was she...although Derrick would rather shove rocks down his throat before he told her that.

"You know Harrington, if I hadn't known any better I'd think you were following me." A ghost of a smile touched Massie's lips. That made Derrick smile too.

"What makes you think that Block?"  
"Oh please Derrick don't be dumb. You act as if your eyes haven't been following me all night."

"Maybe they have." Derrick took another sip of his drink. It burned. He kept drinking. "My eyes are used to being drawn to pretty little things."

Massie laughed. It reminded him of earlier that day in the library. That was more than ten hours ago now that Derrick thought about it.

It was weird how time flew by so quickly, even for just a day.

"Always the charmer. I see you've never changed."  
"I see you haven't either."

Massie raised a brow. "Oh really? How so?"

Derrick took another sip, or at least tried to until he realized he was out. "You're still the same, people-pleasing Massie Block. Always trying to look good for this person, act the right way for that person. It's so unbecoming of you Block. When are you gonna let go?" He threw his red solo cup to the side and reached into the cooler for a beer. Derrick grabbed another one for Massie, who surprisingly took it from his grasp.

"Didn't know you liked beer Block."

"You don't know a lot about me do you Harrington."

He gave a sad smile. "I did." The moon behind her began to blur and almost blend with the dark blue-ish sky. The stars fuzzed together, yet Massie's face was constant...unwavering.

Massie opened her beer as did Derrick, although with much more difficulty. "You know, I'm not the only one pleasing people." Massie took a sip and scrunched her face in disgust.

"It's a required taste..."

"Clearly," the pretty committee alpha but the beer down a table. A gust of wind made the pair shiver. The stars blurred closer together to Derrick, if that was even possible.

"I'm just saying...you and I aren't that different. You try to please everyone to. I mean, I know we haven't been in good terms for a long time now, I'd even go so far as to say you and I hate each other or we come close to that...yet you and I are so similar. We both please people in order to make every one happy, hoping that will make us happy...but it doesn't. Does it?"

"No," he said in an inaudible tone. Like a whisper.

"I can see the way you try so hard for your dad. You carry the entire soccer team, hell every one knows that. You're a great friend Derrick, I mean to the boys and all. Even I'll admit that. I-I know I say a lot of things when I'm angry at you, which turns out to be a lot...but I can see who you are beneath that cool exterior. It's not that hard. You just..you just have to look _close_."

Derrick realized that Massie had moved closer to him. The light of the moon cast a silvery daze around her, making her look more beautiful if that was even possible.

Hell, why deny it any more?

Massie was a vision. She always had been.

He must have just stared at her for a while because the pretty committee alpha bit her lip and looked down at her feet awkwardly. Everything moved so slow. It was enticing, the lip bite. It made him want to bite it himself...

"Derrick."

His name on her lips brought him back to reality. All he had heard ever was Harrington this and Harrington that. This was different.

"Derrick did you even listen to me?"

When he still hadn't managed to make a move, Massie sighed.

"Whatever," she shoved past him, but in that moment he seemed to gain all movement back in his arms and pulled her back to him.

"Wait," he stumbled in place. "Mass.."

"Massie!"

Another voice chimed in.

It was Alicia Rivera.

"Mass, we gotta go," Alicia eyed the two suspiciously. The Latina looked red and flushed, drunk herself Derrick would reckon. She had a pair of black heels in her hand, and no shoes on her feet. Even drunk Derrick knew that the gossip queen herself was going to question him about it at some point. Hopefully when they were sober. Derrick couldn't do any questioning right now.

"Leesh?"

"C-claire's driving remember? We made her our designated driver..." Alicia saw how close they were and how flushed Massie's cheeks were. "I'm sorry was I interrupting something?"

"N-no," Derrick let go of Massie's arm, immediately feeling cold with out her body covering his.

"You weren't Leesh. Don't worry, uh, let's just go..." Massie spared Derrick one last glance before she headed for the door.

Derrick stared stupidly as Massie left. Her red backless dress taunted him as he took another sip.

He'd regret it all in the morning.

* * *

 **Yes I'm going to be the annoying bitch who pesters you to review because it's the only reason I still want to continue to write :);:))))));):)(:((((((;:;(;(:**


	4. Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

**Thank you so much for everyone who reviewed. Honestly, it means a lot.**

 **I don't really have much to say, so here's the chapter :)**

 **I don't own Clique, but I do own Dawson Jenkins ;) (you'll understand as you read...)**

* * *

Chapter 4

Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

 _Kristen_

 _(second week of school, a Tuesday night)_

The second week of school had been repetitive to Kristen Greggory. It was school work after school work, after more school work, after essay, then soccer practice.

It was a grueling hard week, but Kristen promised herself that she'd get through it all. After all she had too. For Kristen, she hadn't had the luxury that most kids who attended Westchester Prep had. Kristen was a scholar student and had a lot to loose if she decided to not keep her grades up.

Her parents were counting on her after all.

There was too much on the line for her to just slack off and drop everything she had worked so hard for.

Kristen had to have the best grades, be good in sports, but at the same time maintain a social life that was required to a very own pretty committee member. Being apart of the PC didn't just mean looking good. It meant being social. It was confidence, beauty, and brains. Just being smart didn't cut it for her. Kristen was pretty and very lucky enough to have a nice fit body from soccer. Not only just that, but pretty committee girls didn't just stay at home on Friday nights and watch sappy teen romance movies. Friday nights were made for partying and getting drunk on some yacht while Katy Perry played on the radio behind them. It wasn't meant for crying with a bowl of popcorn on your lap while you watched ' _the Notebook_.'

To be apart of Massie Block's clique you had to be like Massie, yet have some originality that came to yourself.

Alicia was the hot one.

Dylan was fierce. She was the manipulator if you will. Dylan was also funny.

Claire was the innocent "girl next door" type.

Massie was the alpha, clearly. Miss perfect, the popular girl that everybody envied.

Kristen was the sporty one. She was beauty and brains. Maybe more on the brains part...

She _had_ to keep up her grades. That was her job as Massie Block's was to worry about what to wear to the next Block estate party. It wasn't fair, no, yet nothing really was in Westchester.

Krsiten scolded herself that night in her room for paying too much attention in practicing and memorizing soccer drills rather than working on her essay.

The second week of school was demanding and especially demanding in creative writing when Kristen had to write a paper on a great tragedy that affected all of man kind.

Everybody liked to do World War II, while Kristen decided to do the Protestant Reformation. It affected a great deal of European history, although hardly anybody remembered that.

It was nine o'clock on a Tuesday night when Kristen was busy typing away on her lap top. Her room covered her in a warm bright yellow daze. The walls were painted golden, and her bed was covered in white sheets. Kristen liked the yellow. They say it's a happy color, in which Kristen decided to paint her room in said happy color after the evens of last year.

Last year...

This time last year Kristen had begun her affair with the infamous Kemp Hurley. Womanizer. All of the Briarwood boys had their fair share of ladies, but Kemp Hurley never gave up. His bed was never without a female presence. Every week there was a different girl. Hell, even more than just one. A new group to submit themselves under him, willing and ready after the next girl(s).

It disgusted Kristen, yet that had been her at some point. This time last year she succumbed her desires to Kemp Hurley.

Kemp made her feel things. He touched her exactly at the right spots and kissed her in every nook in her body. Every sweet spot he took in his mouth. Desire formed in her stomach and reaching out to her body.

Was he secretive in their relationship? Of course. Yet, he did things that no other guy had done to her. Things that made her _feel_ something.

Dempsey was good to her. Dempsey was sweet, caring, and didn't hide her from all to see. Yet Dempsey didn't make Kristen quiver like Kemp did under just one touch. Dempsey was gentle in touches, yet sometimes Kristen wanted someone to make her scream in desire. She missed screaming...

Kristen shook her head.

Why was she thinking of this? Of all people, Kemp Hurley had hurt her the most. He tore her apart with his words and didn't even bother fixing her. He was a murderer. Kemp had killed all the of the hope of feelings she had left in her...that is, until Dempsey Solomon fixed them.

Dempsey was what she needed in her life. Not what she wanted, but what she needed. When Kristen met Dempsey not too long after Kemp and her had ended their affair, she knew right away that he was the one she was looking for. The one to fix her broken pride. The one to mend her back into whole again.

No matter what desires and lusts Kemp had in her heart, Demspey won her over fully. He was everything that a girl wanted.

Dempsey was the prince charming. Kemp was more of the dark knight.

They were together, while Krsiten was Kemp's dirty little secret.

So why did she feel as if she as betraying the past relationship? Why did she feel so horrible? It wasn't like Kemp cared. In fact he was glad to see Kristen go in his life. Kemp Hurley didn't care about feelings.

As far as Kristen knew, he didn't have any.

 _ **1 year ago...**_

 _Kristen Greggory laid herself on the king sized bed, a large smile playing on her face. She hadn't been happy in so, so, so long. It felt damn good._

" _Kris," Kemp smiled down at her. He was shirtless, just the way she liked it after they had slept together. His white sheets covered her naked body. It felt almost silky around her. If she had a choice, Kristen would have stayed that way forever._

" _Mmm..."_

" _Kris, open your eyes."_

 _Kristen obeyed and stared back into the blue eyes of Kemp. It was like an ocean. Calming and beautiful. He was so beautiful._

 _Kemp had short honey brown hair. It was a dirty blonde at one point of his life, but then turned honey brown through the natural light of the sun. Kristen wasn't sure how...but it just did. His eyes were an ocean blue, and his smile was to die for. He had a nice jaw, set feautres, and a good body. Kemp was hot, and he was all hers._

 _The boy leaned down to the kiss Kirsten, catching his full pink lips in his._

 _They fit together so perfectly. It was like harmony._

" _Kris," he sighed into her mouth. It was a happy sigh. "Kris, I wanna take you out."_

 _"Then let's go somewhere."_

 _He grinned into their kiss. "Where?"_

 _"Somewhere near by?" Kristen pursed her lips, staring up at him through dark, thick lashes. He only looked down at her with a blank expression. It wasn't as loving as it was before._

" _C'mon Greggory, you know we can't be seen..."_

 _His face looked pleading, yet Kristen decided that she'd have none of it._

" _Why?" she asked, defiant._

 _He furrowed his brows, confused at her change of tone. One second she the loving, the next she was harsh._

" _Because nobody can know. I mean...this was our agreement wasn't it?"_

" _Who cares about our agreement? That was two months ago Kemp, this is now. If you like me then why can nobody know?"_

 _Kemp ran a hair through his honey brown locks, clearly annoyed that things weren't going his way. "Kristen.." his voice was strained._

" _Kemp," she spoke harshly._

" _I-I...you know we can't. People talk all the time and I just don't want the complications of other people's opinions getting in between our relationship."_

" _You don't care about that shit Kemp. I know you don't. I don't either," Kristen pushed herself up form her shoulders to kiss him but the boy moved away. Where was the sweet boy who was in her not too long ago? What had happened to the boy who kissed her shoulders, thighs, hips... Where had he gone?_

" _Kris. It just can't, okay? It was our agreement after all."_

" _Fuck the agreement Kemp," Kristen groaned as she fell back into the bed._

" _I'd rather be fucking you."_

" _You already did."_

" _I can do it again. Get your mind off things..."_

" _Why can't we talk about this," Kristen frowned._

" _We just can't babe," Kemp moved to kiss her neck. Kristen sighed. This was her happy spot. Oh, she loved it..._

" _Kemp," Kristen moaned. His hand slipped between the sheets and up her thighs. He knew exactly what to do to her, and exactly how to distract her away from the serious conversation they were just having._

" _This is all you want babe. Remember that," Kemp sighed into her hair. His hand reached closer and closer..._

" _All I want," Kristen whispered into the air. That was a lie._

 _I want more, she thought._

" _Fuck Kris..."_

 _That was what they did too.._

 _The pair didn't speak about their private relationship going public until seven months later...and that was when things started to take a turn for the worst._

* * *

 _Massie_

 _(the third week of school)_

"Ms. Block," Mr. Alcibur beckoned Massie to the front of the class from behind his desk. He had his reading glasses on, and hadn't even bothered to look up from his book.

Massie got up gracefully and walked up until she was behind Mr. Alcibur's desk. She pursed her lips, waiting for her teacher to speak again. Slowly, he looked up at her from behind his frames and pushed his book to the side. _The Merchant of Venice_ , it read.

Of course he'd be reading Shakespear...

"Ms. Block, it has come to my attention that you've been selected to write a paper for the school newspaper."

"I-I haven't signed up for the school newspaper though," Massie frowned. Had she? No, she definitely hadn't. Creative writing was just another random class for Massie. She had no passion for writing. It wasn't bad, but she didn't like it enough to join something as lame as the school news.

"I understand that. But you've been selected after turning in your first essay."

"The one about World War II?"

"That's the one," the man grinned up at her, leaning into his chair.

Massie crossed her arms. It was just a dumb essay they were told to write on the second week. The assignment was to write about events that devastated the nation, so Massie chose World War II. Almost everyone did. It wasn't hard to write about at all. All you had to know was what happened, which every one did and then type. It was that simple. "Mr. Alcibur, I hardly think I'm the right candidate to write for the school news. I mean I just wrote you an essay."

"A brilliant essay," her teacher corrected her.

"Well, thanks. Really that's nice, I just don't think the school news is for me."

Mr. Alcibur licked his lips before staring down at a stack of papers on his desk. Now that she looked, his entire area was pretty messy, from his towering books on the floor around his desk to the cubbyholes filled with papers that looked as if they were going to burst at any second.

It was unorganized and so not Massie Block.

Finally after some digging around in his desk, he found a portfolio which he in return shoved into Massie's hands. "Think about it Ms. Block. I wouldn't be asking this of you if I didn't see any potential."

Massie flipped through the portfolio. Papers upon papers. Ugh. This wasn't Massie's passion. She liked fashion and media. Maybe mass media journalism? But that meant she had to write. Why though? Massie wasn't good at writing. She liked to write little stories when she was yougner, sure but she didn't have the passion for it like she did for judging outfits. Maybe she'd be on _Fashion Police_ one day. But journalism? This wasn't her deal. This wasn't Massie Block.

"I'll think about it," she finally spoke.

"Let me know what you think by tomorrow. I need to let the guys on the paper know about their new addition."

"A _possible_ new addition."

His smile didn't falter. "Right. A possible new addition."

Just as she turned her back he bell rang, signaling the kids to their next class and two more periods until the end of the day.

Ah, freedom. How Massie would just love to curl up into a tiny ball and take a nice after school nap before going to the mall. After the first two weeks of school, she needed some retail therapy.

The first week had been disastrous from the first day to her Saturday morning detention. That didn't go too well on William and Kendra Block too. Their princess having detention on the first week of school? Not okay. Not to the Block's at least. Then the second week was filled with grueling work from creative writing to American history and physics. Massie was still stuck on summer. Waking up late, shopping all day, partying at night, and tanning with the PC. The second week of school hit her hard, and that continued on to the third.

It was tough and Massie really need a break. Then there was all the talk of homecoming and she still hadn't found a dress or a date. Speaking of, who was she going to go with anyways? Derrick and his cronies were definitely out of the question.

That brought up a fond memory of the varisty soccer team's alpha. Saturday night on the first week of school had been nice. The party was just fine, then she had that somewhat touching moment with Derrick. It brought a smile on Massie's lips as she headed to her next class. They had basically flirted in a way but then things got a bit more sweeter...more _sensitive_ if you will. She hadn't had a deep conversation with Derrick in a long time. Even when they were still just friends back in freshman year and the beginning of their sophomore year, they had always kept things cool and funny. Things were carefree between them, never serious.

Even so, that moment hadn't lasted very long.

The next morning all the gossip was that Derrick Harrington slept with a pair of twins. Massie couldn't remember the name, nor did she care. Derrick would do what he did best and she'd do her own thing.

Drinking and fucking were two sides of the same coin for Derrick Harrington. It wasn't the Derrick she remembered but it was the one she'd have to endure for the next two years.

He was the perfect jock. He played sports, slept with girls (many girls), partied, and to even top that all off Derrick didn't have bad grades. They weren't perfect but they weren't bad either. Even if he did just turn a blind eye to his school work his parents had money as did mostly every child of the Westchester community.

Was it fair? No. Nobody in Westchester did anything to be _fair_. But it was the way things always had been and how they most likely always would be.

Massie tried to shake all thoughts of Derrick Harrington out of her head when she reached her next class. It was English, and it was boring.

At least she had three of the pretty committee members with her in class. Dylan, Alicia, and Claire joined Massie in the class of at least thirty students. They had assigned seats so Massie didn't sit any where close to the other pretty committee members.

She was somewhere near the back of the room, which was really cold now that Massie thought about it. She had an empty seat next to her and felt a bit isolated in the back. Near her the only students were two boys she didn't know and from their looks Massie didn't think they were worth knowing.

Paris Wandler sat two seats away from Massie with some other girl she didn't know. Olivia Ryan sat two seats in front of Massie.

Ugh, she was so tacky. It made her sick.

Alicia and Dylan were all the way in the front while Claire sat on the other side of the row Olivia sat in.

Massie could often see the two glaring at each other when they made eye contact.

Class resumed as usual.

Mrs. Maricyll droned on about English poets from the 15th century. Massie got papers handed back to her and what not. It wasn't like she was paying any attention though. Massie usually had her phone out and glanced up occasionally at the board. It didn't really matter. Mrs. Maricyll talked and talked, and hardly anything important really happened in the class.

Suddenly a body moved into the seat next to her. Massie looked to her left to find a brown haired boy glancing at her, a friendly smile on his lips.

She had noticed him from soccer but couldn't put a name to the face.

"I'm Dawson," the boy reached out his hand for Massie to shake. It was weird, nobody really did that any more but Massie had grown out of her self righteous, uppity, bitchy ways and was more nicer to people now. Or at least she thought.

"Massie," she shook his hand and offered him a small smile. He was nice. Nice was good. It wasn't like the boy was bothering her anyways.

"I know."

Massie cocked her head the side.

"I just mean, you know...you're Massie Block," he laughed sheepishly, scratching his head. "Everybody knows you."

"Oh."

"I didn't mean it in a bad way!" Dawson shied away from Massie's eyes. "I-I just meant that y-you're popular and all, and everybody knows you. Heh."

"Oh," Massie blushed. Since when was she so humble? She was supposed to be confident. Though, Massie had to admit, the boy was cute. He had very white teeth, now that she looked as she smiled at her. His hair was cut in a nice clean way and his eyes were a forest green. The boy was dressed nicely too, in a red polo shirt and jeans. He was fairly good looking. Sure he was no Derrick Harrington or Cam Fisher but he was different. Different was good, especially with all of the boys Massie _did_ know.

"I just mean, you're really pretty and people know you. Also you know Derrick Harrington right?"

Massie stiffened at the mention of his name. "Yeah. I did."

"Right," he scratched the back of his head. "I know you guys aren't in the best terms, I mean most of the school does but he's my captain and all so that's just another reason to know you..."

Massie continued to stare him down. So Derrick talked about her in soccer? Probably nothing good...

"I hope that didn't offend you," he laughed awkwardly.

"No, of course not. I don't care what Derrick does or says about me," Massie pursed her lips and raised her brow. An attempt to look defiant...and sassy.

"He doesn't even say anything bad, honestly. I mean, Derrick gets pestered with questions about you guys too. Didn't you two date?"

"A long time ago," Massie spoke sharply.

"R-right," he laughed again. He had a cute laugh. "Well, he only talks about you if people ask. He's really nice."

"Yeah, I guess he is. He's always been a good friend, when we were..."

"Well," Dawson looked down at his shoes shyly. "Maybe we can be friends? Ya know, only if you want..."

Massie smiled. It was cute. He was shy, and it wasn't every day you met a guy in Westchester who wasn't so full of himself and had his head stuck in his ass. "Yeah. Friends..I like the sound of that."

Friends with Dawson..It was a different thing to Massie. She hadn't known him long, in fact she's only known him for five minutes yet there was something nice about him. The boy was actually sweet and decent. Maybe she'd become good friends with him. The last time she was close friends with a guy was last year with the soccer boys, but clearly that came to a swift end.

Besides, Massie had missed getting boy advice from an actual boy.

This would be a good clean friendship, one she needed too.

The two spoke for the rest of the period.

Massie found that Dawson was nice, intellectual, funny, and most importantly nothing like Derrick.

* * *

 _Claire_

 _(the next day)_

It wasn't everyday that you had to watch your ex make out with his new tacky, tan, bleach blonde girlfriend. Well, not for "normal" people but for Claire Lyons it was becoming a daily thing...and she was sick of it.

The lunch room was large and much too fancy for what Claire had ever imagined a high school cafeteria to be. But this was Westchester, and things were different around here. They were like _Gossip Girl, 90210_... not a high school like you'd see in _Friday Night Lights,_ or _Dawson's Creek_.

Things were always different for old Florida Claire.

Sure, she hadn't been that girl for a long time now but she was always _her_ at heart. Before any of the glamour of becoming one of Massie Block's PC friends, she was a regular Florida pre-teen girl. She shopped at Target and Walmart, not Saks off 5th Ave.

Sometimes she missed that Claire. She missed the young innocent girl she used to be. Well compared to the other girls she still was. Claire was no where near the manipulation that the other girls had been used to all their lives (well, maybe except Kristen), yet she wasn't the same as she was before. She caught herself label-whoring and getting excited over drama more than she should have.

Why weren't things easy anymore?

When she looked at herself, she saw a different girl. Not the semi-tanned natural blonde whose greatest excitement was picking up sea shells on the beach, but rather a level 5 replica of Massie Block. All girls tried to be like Massie. If she wasn't friends with her, then Claire would just be one out of the hundreds of girls who tried to be like Massie, Alicia, Dylan, and Kristen. But she was lucky enough to have become friends with the alpha and her three best friends, and so Claire was saved from the sharks.

She wasn't considered lame like Layne Abeley, yet she wasn't up to the level as the other pretty committee girls were. Claire was no where near it. She often wondered if she ever would be.

Massie was the perfect alpha with good grades, a nice family, a _rich_ dad, a big house, nice clothes (better than just nice actually), and the charming appeal that brought boys to their knees.

If you thought Massie was good with the boys...wait until you met Alicia Rivera. When Claire first saw pictures of Alicia in Massie's bed room all those years ago her first night in the Block's estate, she already thought the Latina was a beauty. The years only did her even _better_. Alicia grew, as did other parts of her body. She was sultry, seductive, lustful even, and the girl didn't even know it. Well she probably did, but she most certainly didn't try to be.

Dylan was all confidence. She talked, walked, and slept like a real New Yorker. She was constantly busy, knew all the latest drama, she talked with an air of sophistication around her as well as having a good sense of humor to it all. Dylan was a fiery red head. Hell, her debate grade last year was great. Even if she didn't see it, Dylan was in fact very pretty. She just didn't know how to act on it.

Kristen had the body that was fit to be on a _Sports Illustrated_ magazine. She was fit and athletic, and what boy didn't love that? To top it all off, she was smarter than anybody in their class. Kristen was the kind of girl guys wanted to take home to meet their mothers. Why she ever endured her months of hiding in an affair with Kemp Hurley, Claire would never understand...

Then there was the fifth pretty committee member. Her. Claire.

She was plain and nothing special. If anything, she was just Cam Fisher's ex. The ex-girlfriend who lasted way too long and was past over due. Of course, eventually Cam realized that too and then she was dumped and thrown aside like garbage.

Cam wouldn't do that if he had dated Massie. He'd worship her if it were Massie who dated Cam for two years instead of Claire. If it were Alicia, he'd never let the sexy Latina out of his grasp...literally. Dylan would probably find a way to talk him out of breaking up with her. She wouldn't stand down with out a fight, unlike Claire who meekly cried and turned away after she was dumped. She didn't even try to persuade Cam other wise. Even if she did, that didn't really matter. He had made up his mind. Even if he dated Kristen instead of Claire, the hot blonde was more than just a hot body and a pretty face. She had substance. Claire was too boring for the likes of Cam Fisher.

It was no wonder why now Claire sat in the lunch room staring at Cam and Olivia locking lips ahead of her.

The two made her sick. Suddenly lunch didn't look so tasteful to Claire Lyons.

Pushing her tray to the side, Claire rested her head in her hands. It was best to not look up anymore. The sight wasn't too pretty.

Alicia Rivera sat next to her, making Claire feel even more insecure than she had already been. "Guys guess what!" Alicia bounced in her seat.

"Chill Leesh, your boobs are gonna give way," Massie spoke as she ate her salad.

"Shut up," Alicia stuck her tongue out. "Anyways...I have news!"

"Obvi," Dylan rolled her eyes as the red head looked down at her plate of sushi. "Hm...I can't decide if I like these or not yet."

"Who cares, just eat," Kristen looked up briefly form her books before returning to do her home work.

"Easy for you to say," Dylan muttered before reluctantly shoving a sushi roll in her mouth.

Claire didn't know what Dylan was bitching about. She was still far more prettier than the blonde outsider.

Four years of sitting with the girls at lunches and Claire still felt so apart from the other girls. She'd never be as pretty, daring, smart, fierce.

"I have a date with Landon Crane!" Alicia squealed, unable to conceal her news any longer.

"Congrats," Massie looked a bit proud. The alpha stared down at a stack of papers before her before frowning. She bit her lip, looking a bit confused. Come to think of it, Massie had been looking over a portfolio of papers for quite some time now. Yesterday after school when Massie and Claire had dinner outside on the Blocks' terrace, Massie kept glancing down on a bunch of papers. She looked confused, as if she were trying to decide something.

"He's such a hawtie," Dylan gushed. Claire laughed at the way Dylan pronounced hottie. It was like the way the girls used to talk back in junior high. The memories of it brought a smile to Claire's lips. Those days were filled with drama, but they were happy days as well. They were the true final days of innocent Claire Lyons. They were the days of Cam Fisher and Claire Lyons. Now they were nothing.

She'd have to get used to nothing.

"I know right!" Alicia's eyes gleamed. It wasn't hard to score a date with any boys if you were Alicia Rivera. She was pretty, popular, well...she was more than just _pretty_.

Alicia Rivera wasn't _just pretty._

Maybe Claire was, but definitely not Alicia. Maybe Claire wasn't even defined as pretty...

"I thought you were a thing with that Bobbie guy?" Kristen asked, once again looking up from her books. That didn't last too long as the blonde was back at it again, not even bothering to wait for a reply.

"He was cute, but Landon's so hot. He has a really nice car too...ugh! He's just so hot! I can't wait!" Alicia grinned.

"Good for you," Dylan patted her on the back before scrutinizing her sushi again.

Alicia's gaze turned to Claire, who the entire time just looked back and forth from this girl who spoke and the next. "What about you Claire bear? Any new boys in your life?"

Claire blushed. "Uh no..n-not really." She looked up to Cam from behind her thick lashes. He wasn't making out with Olivia any more. In fact Olivia Ryan was nowhere sight. He was laughing and joking around with both Kemp and Chris.

"Oh, don't tell me you're still pining over Cam Fisher," Alicia rolled her eyes before leaning back in her seat. "He's sooo last year Claire. You can do so much better."

"We all can," Kristen agreed, once again glancing up from her books.

"Seriously, I can't believe I had a crush on Kemp and Chris," Dylan frowned into her food.

"At least you didn't sleep with Kemp and was his dirty little secret for months," Kristen muttered.

"True..." Dylan smirked. "How was that by the way?"

Kristen hit Dylan with a book and the red head let out a girlish squeal. "Fuck you Dylan."

Massie giggled. She shoved the portfolio of papers in her purse. Claire frowned. She wanted to try and see what they were, but clearly her chance had long-since past. "Ugh, oh please. You guys we can all do much better. Those guys are nice enough for girls now, but when feelings are involved the rest of the female population will find out like the rest of us what insufferable jerks they are." Massie smirked almost proud of herself for her words.

"Fancy choice of words there Mass," Kristen laughed. "Have you been reading up on the dictionary?"

"Maybe," Massie quipped before shoving a piece of lettuce in her mouth.

"I should have gotten a salad," Dylan spoke thoughtfully, as if she meant to keep that in her head and not say it aloud.

"If that's the case, hand the sushi over sistah," Alicia tried to grab the box of sushi from Dylan but the red head swatted her hand away. Alicia fake pouted then laughed.

"I'm still hungry bitch."

"Bite me."

Another voice chimed in the pretty committee's conversation. Turning around, Claire was faced by Skye Hamilton, Olivia Ryan and Skye's possee. The DSL Daters. Was Olivia one of them now? The Daters were all seniors, in exception of Olivia of course. "Oh don't say that Rivera, or else she really will eat you," Skye laughed. Her voice was shrill and taunting and Claire wanted nothing more than to rip her throat open.

The blonde's gaze turned swiftly to Dylan who frowned. The red head's green eyes were cast downward and beside her Massie looked as if she was about to kill. For once Claire was happy for how loud the cafeteria was. For once, Claire prayed that nobody paid any attention to the two cliques.

"Fuck off Skye," Alicia scowled.

"Hmm, sure thing Alicia. Or...maybe I'll just fuck your ex? Josh and I have been really keen on getting to know each other, if you know what I mean," Skye winked. Alicia's knuckles turned white as the Latina grasped the back of her chair with an iron grip. Claire looked almost fearful of what she might do.

"Go ahead. Those boys are so last year Skye. We've already had them."

"You had them? Or did you they have you..." Skye tipped her head to the side in a mocking way. Apparently, Massie had enough of it.

"Why don't you crawl back into the hole you came from Skye? Don't you have something better to do?" Massie gritted her teeth and fixed a hard glare at Skye.

"Better than hanging out with my favorite girls? Oh, what could be better than this?" Skye spoke in a stickley sweet voice.

"I don't care who you fuck Skye. It doesn't matter because by the next week you'll be old news. So why don't you do everyone a favor and just graduate already? Clearly nobody here cares about you."

A flash of hurt and embarrassment flashed through Sky'es eyes, but the DSL Daters alpha quickly composed herself. "Whatever Massie. You wanna talk about old news? Look at yourself. Derrick Harrington doesn't want you anymore. Every thing that happened the end of the school year a few months ago only proved how old you've grown to him. Weren't you like best friends throughout child hood? Clearly not anymore. Also, if Derrick can see how uninteresting you've become then so will everyone else. Enjoy your last two years here Mass, because they aren't going to last and in the real world nobody is going to be kissing your ass."

Massie stiffened in her seat.

The words had clearly hurt her, but Massie composed herself quickly. "Get out of here Skye."

"Gladly."

Skye and the DSL Daters all turned and left, all except one (that was if she was even considered a Dater). Olivia Ryan.

Olivia smiled at Claire, a fake smile obviously. It was the smile one would greet their enemy after winning some grand prize. "So Claire," Olivia began. "I saw you staring at Cam and I not to long ago...and I just wanted to break it to you before you heard from anyone else. We're official. Cam and I, I mean. We're together _together_. I just thought I'd tell you before you heard from anybody else..."

Claire's gaze hardened at the bleach blonde, tacky, tan girl. "That's great Olivia. Really I'm happy for you."

Olivia raised a brow. Her smile was taunting. She had won. She had Cam. But Claire wasn't going to let _her_ know that. "You are?"

"Yes. I am. Honestly if I had gotten rid of that low life earlier before then I would have. To think that this time last year I was slumming it with Cam Fisher, well, it makes me ashamed almost. Honestly Olivia you did me a great favor. So really, thank you. Thank you so much."

Claire felt proud of herself. She wanted to pat herself on the back. In fact, she wanted someone else to pat her on the back for finally growing a back bone and standing up for herself. It felt good. For once she had spoken for herself and had nobody else to defend her. She did it all on her own, and it was gratifying.

Behind her, a voice cleared.

Cam Fisher stood not too far from Claire, with a silent daze around him. He looked lost. Hurt. Confused...you name it.

But Cam Fisher didn't feel those things did he? The Cam Fisher everybody knew now was a rebel, he was cool and didn't care about these kinds of petty girl drama. He especially didn't care what innocent blondes had to say about him.

"Well...I didn't know you felt that way."

Cam's gaze was dark. His eyes flashed with a look of both hurt and anger. Claire almost wanted to cry. She wanted to hug him and tell him that she didn't mean a thing of it. But even if she didn't, she couldn't let him see her weak. He flaunted girl after girl in front of her without Claire even saying a word. She wouldn't let him win again. Not this time.

"Yeah well now you know."

"Now I know." Cam's face was like stone. She couldn't read an emotion on him. He was steel. Of course, now this was the Cameron Fisher she knew. The cold one. Cam Fisher didn't care about feelings. He especially didn't care about Claire Lyons. "C'mon Liv. Let's go."

Olivia latched herself to Cam's side and the pair walked off.

Two tables behind them, the Briarwood boys looked on at the commotion in front of them. Claire had juts realized that almost the entire cafeteria was staring them down, hungry for more gossip and drama.

Of course. Just Claire's luck.

She looked down at her plate of fries.

"You know..." she started. "I'm not hungry anymore."

Luckily for Claire, none of the other girls were too.

* * *

 _Massie_

Massie had been dreading 7th period. All she wanted was for the day to end so she could crawl into bed and take a nice (much needed) nap.

She showed her parents the portfolio of papers from Mr. Alcibur yesterday. They were filled with Massie's previous essays and works from freshman and sophomore year. There was also her first paper which was assigned on the fourth day of school. It was really sappy now that Massie looked back at it. She had talked about Derrick as well as the PC and former Briarwood Boys' problems in the past. Luckily for her, Massie snatched that paper before her parents could read it.

They had pushed her to agree.

William and Kendra Block wanted Massie to get the best grades even though they wouldn't hesitate to just pay through her years of college in which ever school she choose to attend. It was finally that time to think about it too. It being the future...

Last year she had finally started thinking about the inevitable next four years of her life, yet she had been calm about it. Nothing was set in stone. Nothing was certain, not yet at least. Even so, Massie had given college a thought but now she had to finalize her decisions. The next summer would be a lot of touring colleges and prestigious schools. Like most rich kids in upstate New York, their "standards" (more like what their parents wanted from them) was an ivy league school like Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Brown...any of those were good choices for Westchester teens.

When she thought of he future, that's when Massie really felt bad for Kristen. School was a load of hard work, and Massie sure didn't like to do it. Even so, she had her parents money to back her up if she should ever need it. Kristen had to work her ass off to be where she was and to be where she wanted to be in the next four years.

Massie shuddered at the thought.

She always thought she'd do something in fashion, and if not business. Hell, everybody seemed to do business management these days. But writing? It was something Massie had never seen herself in doing. She would never think of it, not in a million years.

Massie Block wasn't a writer. That was all there was too it, and that was exactly what she told Mr. Alcibur when she saw him the next period after the dramatic scene in the cafeteria.

"Why?" her teacher pressed his lips together.

"I-I just can't Mr. Alcibur. Honestly, you have the wrong girl. I really don't know what you saw in me in the first place but I'm just not good enough for the school news."

It sounded lame almost, at least coming out of the lips of Massie Block. She was cool girl, and cool girls didn't fret over the school newspaper. Even so, not matter how lame it may seem...the Westchester news was a large thing. The kids who participated in it got a lot of praise from actual journalists and were able to get good stables jobs right out of college due to their participation in the club. They wrote raw, gripping news. Even Massie knew that. As much as she hated to admit it-Massie didn't think that she had it in her to write for the news.

She couldn't write about economical stuff, sports, or any academic clearly because she didn't know anything about all three of those subjects.

The only thing Massie liked to pay attention to when it came to sports was how good the varsity soccer team's butt's looked in their soccer shorts. That was it. Economics...ha! Nice joke. Academics was an even funnier one...

"Ms. Block I really think you're throwing away a great opportunity. You have it in you, I know you do. Maybe not the same as Asala Karman, or Donnahue Boyd but you have real raw writing. You write what all teenagers _want_ to read!"

"I'm sorry but who?"

"Excuse me?"

"Who's Asala Karman and Donnahue Boyd."

"Seniors who write for the paper. Asala's editor-in-chief while Donnahue is Westchester's very best reporter."

"Ah." Aka, LBR's as Massie would put it in her middle school years. Now they were just faceless nobodies who didn't matter in the life of Westchester's pretty committee alpha.

"Ms. Block, please," her teacher pleaded. His eyes looked tired. They searched her face for any emotional tug in his direction but Mr. Alcibur got nothing. Massie didn't want to write. She wanted to take a nap, go shopping, and drink a iced caramel macchiato from Starbucks.

"I'm sorry Mr. Alcibur," Massie said sheepishly. Truth be told, she had actually liked Mr. Alcibur and was a bit down on letting _him_ _down_. But he juts didn't understand... Massie didn't have it in her. She wasn't the one to chase a person down for a story, she wasn't this Asala girl and Donnahue boy who were apparently great in journalism. Creative writing was a class, and shopping was Massie's goal for the day, not to write in the school newspaper.

"I-I just don't see what you see in me, sir."

Mr. Alicbur frowned. "Well alright then. I tried. It's too bad Ms. Block. I really wish you could see it in you too."

The man returned to his paper, which was actually the school newspaper much to Massie's detest. Massie realized that signaled the end of their conversation and the alpha made her way back to her seat, waiting for the bell to ring.

...

"I just don't get what's so important about the school newspaper!" Massie groaned, shoving chips in her mouth. It was unlike her, yes, but she wasn't in a good mood. Despite how calm she acted, her little incident with Mr. Alcibur really upset her. Sure, she was the one who let him down essentially, but the man made her feel so guilt about it! Ugh. It was so frustrating. Responsibilities weren't really Massie's thing and writing them down was an even bigger hassle.

Beside her, Dawson laughed. His forest green eyes twinkled in obvious amusement at her dilemma. Why was everyone being such a jerk today?

Chip after chip went into Massie's perfectly coated in glossed mouth. Dawson watched her merrily. He was too chipper. (Did anyone even say that anymore?) Why was he being so nice yet annoying at the same time?

They had a sub that day, not like they did much in English anyways. Alicia and Dylan were up in the front taking selfies and the rest of the class was pretty much occupied in whatever else they did. Claire was reading some sort of book though the blonde looked as if she were about to pass out. If she didn't know any better, Massie would make a bet that Clarie was about to drop her head and fall asleep soon.

It had been a long day for her and Olivia Ryan sitting on the other side of the row from her wouldn't do Claire any good. Maybe that's why Claire looked so interested in _Anna Karenina_. Claire Lyons didn't read world class literature. Now that Massie thought about it, she didn't think Claire read at all.

"Maybe you really are a good writer and you just don't know it," Dawson quipped, taking a handful of chips from the bag and shoving them in his mouth. Massie had almost forgotten that they were his, but didn't care. A salad didn't really fill her and she wanted food in any form that it came. She'd regret it later.

Pilates on Saturday morning with Alicia would be a good punishment for the eating of the chips. _Yes_ , Massie decided in her head, _yes it would_.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Yours, clearly. But all great geniuses have always doubted themselves at some point, especially in the beginning."

Massie raised a suspicious brow. She was in no mood for small talk. Right now, small talk was pointless. She just wanted to stop feeling so guilt and start feeling like the Massie she usually was. Powerful, not power _less_.

"Did you know that Thomas Jefferson had written so many versions of the Declaration of Independence that his trash bin filled up so much that his cleaning ladies started getting mad at him?"

"Really?"

"Well...I'm not too sure. But the man did doubt himself in the beginning, and now he's written for us what every 'moral' American citizen should live by."

"So what? Should I just don a wig and white beard then all of a sudden everything will just come to me?"

"Basically," Dawson grinned up at her. Massie slapped his head playfully and giggled. They had only started talking yesterday, and the boy didn't make her want to claw her eyes out. This was different. Massie never seemed to get along with any person from the male gender these days. If she did, they were all potential boy friends who could never live up to her expectations.

Dawson was different though. For once, she had found someone who was contempt to being her friend instead of another guy wanting to get in her pants or to take her as revenge on Derrick Harrington.

Derrick did make a lot of enemies, even if he didn't know it which most of the time he didn't.

He slept with other guys' girlfriend's with out knowing, leaving him with the occasional bruised face and the other guy a broken arm. Derrick was great at soccer, which made him infamous in other schools. Everybody was out to beat him.

When they were still friends freshman year, countless of guys would ask Massie out in front of Derrick to get a rise out of him. The next day, the boy was mysteriously put in the nurses office due to some "illness" and Massie and Derrick would go back to doing whatever they always did. They were good friends at some point, really. Massie wasn't too sure when that had all changed.

"Mass?"

Massie was too lost in her thoughts to realize that Dawson still spoke to her.

"Yeah?"

"I was asking you what you thought about speaking to Asala? You know...the girl from the paper."

Massie snapped out of her daze, back to her 'bitchy' self. "And why would I do that?" she snapped.

"To see if this is really what you want."

Massie sighed. How many times did she have to explain it? "But it's not what I want."

"And how would you know?"

"I just do," Massie insisted. This was getting bothersome now. All she wanted to do was get away from Dawson and his evil bag of _Doritos Cool Ranch_ chips. Ugh...they were so good though.

Dawson leaned back in his chair and gave her an odd smile. It was friendly but he was up to something. She could tell by the way the corners of his mouth twitched up in a sly manner. His eyes had a glint of mischief in them.

For a moment he reminded her of freshman Derrick, always starting trouble. He still was. Massie just didn't know it anymore.

"Go out with me."

"Excuse me?"

"Not like that," Dawson shook his head and laughed. "I mean like...go out with me after school. We'll go to this place I wanna show you. Maybe it will help fuel your inspiration."

"I already told you Dawson, I am no writer."

"But you could be."

"Yeah, I _could_ be. But I won't."

"Sure Mass."

It almost hurt when he called her that. He sounded so much like Derrick, only for a brief moment.

"Whatever Dawson."

The two decided not to talk about Massie's little writer situation for the remainder of the period. In fact, Massie had gone up to sit with Alicia and Dylan. Claire was asleep, her book open and used as a pillow for her head just as Massie had predicted. Dawson went off to talk to some guy on the soccer team.

Though the pair decided not to speak, they both knew in their minds that they were going to meet after school. And they did.

* * *

 _Derrick_

 _(after 9_ _th_ _period. 3:05 pm)_

"Alright hustle up!" Derrick ran backwards, facing the boys who ran in the direction of their captain. Their coach was sitting on the bench along with the other coaches, probably talking about drills and whatever soccer coaches talked about. As captain, Derrick was in charge of warming up. It was alright, but a part of him wished he had a whistle. It would seem more official, yet it was probably a good thing because one of the boys (Kemp) would most likely take it from him every five seconds and keep blowing into it like a maniac to cause havoc among the team.

"Let's go! Move it!"

Derrick could feel the sweat dripping from his forehead down to his shoulders. It was at least 85 degrees out, and personally Derrick couldn't wait for the fall weather to kick in. Actually it should have kicked in a long time ago, and supposedly it did, yet the summer weather still remained. One day it would be a good day for jeans and the next basketball shorts or something that didn't make you feel too stuffy.

That didn't matter anyways. At Westchester Prep all students were required to wear a uniform. When it wast still pretty hot, Derrick's tie was askew and his white sleeve rolled up, buttons on collar undone (well they always were all year long). It was the black slacks that bothered Derrick when it was hot out. Good thing the class rooms were air conditioned, else wise Derrick would be a pool of sweat everywhere he went.

"C'mon Derrick," Josh spat out. The boy knelt on his knees, embracing the grass as he fell forward. "Shit. It's not like you're coach. Give us a break."

"A break isn't gonna let us win championship Josh."

"It won't kill us either."

Kemp ran to a mini-circle the two boys formed, as the other boys on the team continued running their warm up laps. They knew better not to piss Derrick off. It seemed however, Derrick's own friends didn't know that. "Jeez Harrington, would it kill ya to give us a break?"  
"Yes."

Kemp rolled his eyes, and joined Josh on the grass. As bad as it sounded, the five boys were definitely favored on the team. They were good. Not just high school good, but good _good_. Never it Westchester history did five freshman boys help carry the team to win gold, and now those freshman boys were growing up and even better than they were at 15 years old. Way better. Coach Saunders knew the boys were an asset to the team. Heck, they were even more than that, and even more so Derrick Harrington was more than all of that. He was the real deal, and everybody knew it.

When Derrick stepped on the field, the other team knew they had to be on their A-Game, and even that wasn't enough. Even as just a goalie, Derrick was good. A ball never slipped past him. Maybe once in a blue moon. Derrick had scouts looking at him and his friends for all their games, and to stay the least all of them never left unimpressed. Westchester would never know a soccer player like Derrick Harrington.

"You know, I'm starting to think that you like to torture us with these drills," Josh spat out. His breathing was labored but that didn't bother Derrick much. He'd get over it.

"Maybe I do," Derrick managed a breathy laugh.

As the three boys tried to catch their breath, Cam and Chris made their way over.

"Jenkins is missing," Cam said almost immediately as he reached the circle. "That's what Plovert says at least."

"Yeah, it's true," Chris spoke, his breathing also labored.

"What!?" Derrick snapped. "The kid never misses practice."

"He's hardly a kid..." Josh mumbled.

"Oh, you know what I mean idiot."

"Hardly. I can't even think straight," Josh groaned.

"Quit your wining Hotz, it's not anything new to you."

Josh stayed quiet this time, attempting to regain a normal breathing pace while Kemp sat on the grass, staring out lazily into the bleachers.

"Do you know where Jenks is?" Derrick questioned.

"Nope. All I know is he's with some girl," Chris said. With that, he ran off to finish his laps with the rest of the team. Out of all the boys not including Derrick, Chris was the only other one who often followed the rules. Kemp was too much of a wild card, Cam did whatever he wanted, and Josh complained too much even though he was damn good at everything athletic wise.

"That idiot. He can fuck girls later, right now he's supposed to be here with us," Derrick snapped.

"Well you tell him that captain," Cam took a seat on the field with Kemp and Josh. "It's not our fault he's not here."

"Whatever slut it is better be worth it because I'm killing him tomorrow." Staring down at the three sitting boys, Derrick sighed. "Get up assholes, lets' run."

All three boys groaned but complied to their captain's wishes.

* * *

 _Massie_

"Dawson, is this safe?" Massie stared up at the other boy who was standing proudly up a hill.

"Of course it is Mass! Just climb up. It's easy."

Easy?

Was he kidding? A hill was not easy, no matter how small it was. Massie wasn't wearing the right shoes and she didn't feel like hiking up a few hills to see whatever it was Dawson wanted her to see.

They had been walking around the Bronx River County park trail for over half an hour now, and Massie was getting sick of it. Bugs kept flying all over her, and if it weren't for her long sleeves she would've been covered in bites. How she was doing this all in flats, Massie didn't know. Her school uniform was a complete mess. The "supposed to be" stark white button down shirt looked a bit dusty, and her red tie was askew. Massie had to roll her sleeves up, feeling much like a certain messy dirty blonde haired boy whenever he got too hot in school.

Wherever Dawon was taking her, Massie was sure it wasn't worth it.

All around, bikers flew by Dawson and Massie. She stuck out like a sore thumb. In fact, both of them did but Dawson seemed so collected, as if he had done this thousands of times.

"H-hey," Massie stumbled when they reached a bridge. Finally all of the miniature hills were over with even if they were torture.

"Yeah?" Dawson looked over his shoulder.

"Don't you have soccer?"

He gave her a questioning look.

"I just mean, like practice. Aren't you missing it?"

Dawson gave her an easy smile. His eyes were almost too kind, if that were even possible. "Well yeah, I'm missing it but it'll be alright."

"Really? I hear Derrick..I-I mean Harrington is a really touch captain."

Dawson looked down at his feet and laughed. Massie stared down too, noticing that his once polished black shoes were now covered in mud. "He is but Derrick isn't bad. I mean he can be touch but it's nothing I can't handle."

It seemed brave almost. But why was he missing practice for Massie? I mean sure, they were friends...but the pair wasn't that close yet. At the beginning of the week Massie didn't even know that he exsisted. He was just another good looking teen who was lucky enough to be on the soccer team but not apart of Derrick's little clique. At Westchester Prep those five boys were the only boys who really mattered.

Massie didn't see the big deal anyways. They weren't all that special. She frowned slightly. They were special once to her but those days were long behind Massie and the pretty commmitte.

"You okay?" Dawson noticed her deep in thought.

"Oh! Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"Good," he grinned. "We're almost there."

"Almost where?"

Another bridge and a two minute walk later, and Massie was _it_. It was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. It made her realize why those "hippie types" as Alicia liked to refer, enjoyed nature so much.

Tree formed from both sides of the lake, looking as if they were forming an archway shaped in a heart. The colors of the leaves varied from red, orange, yellow, green, brown...it was breathtaking. The river was a clear blue. Looking into it put Massie in a daze. The ripples of the water looked almost crystal like. For a second there, Massie thought it was so clear that she could even see her reflection.

What was the most beautiful though had to be the sun. The way the light touched the trees, stones, the river...it made Massie want to take in the view and never let go. It made her feel warm inside. She had never noticed how beautiful nature really was. For Massie Block, it was always diamonds and fancy jewels, high-end furniture, top notch technology. She had forgotten, or perhaps never knew the true beauty of the forest, the river, the mountains, the trees. Here they all were, in front of a bridge where bikers biked by every day...and Massie was in awe.

She was too busy taking in the view that she hadn't noticed Dawson snapping a picture of her in what looked to be a vintage Polaroid camera.

She blinked a few times before processing what had just happened.

"It's a picture," he spoke.

"I can see that."

He laughed at her hostility. Why was he laughing? This wasn't funny. "I'm trying to make a point..."

"Which is what? That's you're a stalker?"

"No Massie," Dawson only laughed some more. "I'm trying to talk about passion."

"What?" Massie furrowed her brows in confusion. What was he trying to get at?

"I like photography. I capture true beauty."

His words made her blush. True beauty. Was he talking about her or the trees? Maybe both? Probably the trees...

"I-I don't get it." It wasn't entirely true but it wasn't a lie either.

"I'm trying to make a point to you. Before I found this spot it was always soccer, soccer, soccer. I loved the game, hell I still love the game. I enjoy it a great deal but I didn't see myself doing it after high school. After a while all of the parties and the big headed egos of the guys in my team after winning championship made me kinda hate it. Well...okay, not hate but ya know. Close to that. All of the glamour ruined the game for me. I missed when people played to be passionate about it." Dawson bit his lip. Massie never noticed that he had kissable lips. She felt like such a little school girl thinking about it. For a second, she was 7th grade Massie again who was thinking about loosing her lip virginity to Chris Abeley. "Anyways...one day I was biking with my older brother Declan who basically forced me to come with him. Declan bikes, he's the kind of guys who you'll see watching the Tour de France. But, anyways I came with him one day and he had his camera and I just...snapped, I guess. Something about this sight brought me to my knees. I started taking pictures and it just got to me in a way that I never felt for anything else. The pictures made me see how beautiful nature really is. This place made me see how beautiful this world is. With all of this technology I started to forget."

Dawson smiled up at her through thick dark lashes. "I started taking more pictures. It was weird because all my life there was soccer, kinda like how you like fashion and whatever else you do." The pair laughed. "But, I realized that I liked photography in general. Suddenly soccer wasn't everything to me. It was still a big part to me but it wasn't everything like it used to be. Now I know what I love to do. I've found that photography is great...I mean, I don't expect you to understand that but if you feel passionately about something, I mean _really_ passionately then I don't see what the problem is."

"Is this your way of trying to get me to write?" Massie asked in a small voice. She felt sheepish now, especially after Dawson's little speech about passion. It was great really. At least he knew what he loved to do. Massie had no clue. Sure, she loved fashion but it didn't mean she was about to make a living out of it. When it came to fashion, it was all about what looked good to Massie Block. She wasn't going to become some big time designer or anything. For once, she saw what Dawson was trying to get at.

Try new things. That was what he was trying to tell her. Try new things, and it will pay off. Maybe even the same could be said about people...

Not even Derrick had ever tried to push her to do something out of her comfort zone. Thinking back to it, he had always just let Massie be. Derrick never did anything to make Massie want to try anything new or to better herself. Why was a stranger doing better than Derrick ever did in all their child hood and years of friendship?

There was a sharp pang in her chest when she thought about him. Why deny it anymore? Derrick was constantly in her mind. She had known him for too long to get rid of him. In every boy, Massie tried to mold out another Derrick in hopes of finding him in every one she met. But Dawson...he was different. He was solely interested in _her_. Even as a friend, no guy had been that way with her in a long time. In Dawson's eyes, she wasn't _Massie Block_. She was just Massie.

It felt good being _just Massie_.

"At the end of the day you're going to decide what you want to do," Dawson said as they locked eyes. "You're your own person Massie." A small Polaroid picture emerged from the camera. Dawson shook it a few times until he handed it to her.

In front of her eyes the picture began to form. The breath taking scenery took place in the small hand seized picture, with Massie looked at it in awe. Her hair looked almost blonde by the way the sunlight touched it, and her skin looked so bright...radiant. This was the way Massie wanted people to picture her. In it, she looked like the perfect Massie she had always tried so hard to be. It brought a smile on her lips.

For once she could say she looked looked perfect.

"Dawson..."

"See? A photographer only captures true beauty. You are..."

He blushed and stared back down at his muddy shoes. Massie tore her eyes always from the picture so she could look at him.

"I love it," she grinned. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me," he smiled shyly at her. Where was the bold Dawson giving his passionate (literally) speech a minute ago? "I'm only the photographer."

"What am I?" Massie laughed. "Some model for nature scenery?" she joked.

"No. You're my muse."

Dawson locked his eyes to hers. Amber eyes stared deep into his own pool of forest green. It reminded her of the trees surrounding them. The sunlight hit his face in a nice pleasant way. He looked as if he were coming out of a dream.

Suddenly, it didn't matter that they only became friends juts recently and that Massie hadn't known his name at the beginning of the week.

It was very unlike Massie to act on pure impulse but at that moment she didn't care.

Massie closed the distance between them and gave him a soft kiss. It felt right. Massie felt like she belonged there with Dawson Jenkins. The warmth of the sun hitting her face only made everything feel better. Time stood still, and she willed it to never end.

For a moment all she knew was Dawson. _If only this could last forever_ , Massie thought as she deepened the kiss.

For a moment, she didn't know who Derrick Harrington was.

* * *

 **As bad as it is to admit, this is the first time I've read through my chapters since I started the story. Before that I just kinda skimmed through for mistakes and to add break lines but I actually read through this one so hopefully I didn't miss any errors!**

 **As always, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. Thanks I love you all :)**

 **Ps. Sorry for being such a review whore.**

 **Can't help it.**


	5. Head vs Heart

**Thanks for all of the very sweet reviews.**

 **Once again, I don't own the Clique but I DO OWN my original character (Dawson and Bryan Hesseny, Geoffrey and Maria Plovert)**

 **Thank you all so much once again for the great reviews, they really do make my day and I love you guys for it.**

 **School is coming up soon so I might not be able to write as much as I'd love to, but I most definitely will write as much as I can. I still have two weeks of summer left basically so I'll try to write as much as I can before that. Thank you all and love you so much.**

 **Also, I felt as if I rushed Dawson and Massie's relationship. I had originally kept the kiss out of that one nature scene and I planned to just have them become closer as friends then begin to get into a relationship. Although when I started writing it, it just happened and it felt so right to put it in there.**

 **So, so sorry that I kinda rushed things between them and sorry that I rush a lot of things in this story lol.**

 **Anyways...this chapter we have brooding Chris (yay for character inside scoops!), slightly brooding Massie towards the end, Dylan family plot line/twists, and yeah..**

 **EnjoY!**

* * *

 _Previously:_ Massie becomes friends with a fellow Junior and soccer player, Dawson Jenkins. Despite only knowing him for two days, Dawson helps Massie out in deciding if she wants to write for the school paper. They kiss. Claire is upset about Cam and Olivia, as usual. Kristen contemplates her current relationship with Dempsey Solomon while also rethinking about her old relationship with Kemp. Derrick is pissed at Dawson skipping practice with the soccer team wanting to championship and regain their title, although he doesn't know that Massie is the girl Dawson skipped out on with. Mr. Alcibur is desperate for Massie to join the school paper, and is disappointed when she declines his offer to join.

Chapter 5

"Head vs Heart"

 _Massie_

 _(8:45 am)_

It wasn't right.

It felt so good but Massie knew it just wasn't right.

After pulling away from Dawson, the two smiled shyly at each other then Massie made up some pathetic excuse to get away from him which she forgot the following day.

Through the start of the day, Massie ducked her head when she saw a mop of brown hair. She was dreading 8th period just as she was dreading 7th yesterday.

If she could mentally beat herself up, she would. Maybe she'd ask someone to beat her up? Oh, whatever. Either way, Massie felt dirty. She knew that it was wrong to kiss Dawson. They just met! She was caught up in a moment of passion (literally) and bang! She kissed him! Even so after the feeling of spontaneous longing went away, Massie knew exactly what she had done and regretted it. They had just met and were becoming fast friends, which Massie ultimately ruined.

Had he kissed her back? Well...yes. But she was a girl, and a pretty one. Even Massie had to admit that. So what if he kissed her back? That didn't change a thing. Dawson was nice, even more so but he was still just a stranger. Maybe he had a girlfriend? You never knew. After all it was a possibility.

Besides..a kiss barely meant anything these days. They just weren't as special as they used to be anymore.

Massie frowned as she toyed with her mechanical pencil. She hadn't felt real sparks in a kiss since Derrick when they were still innocent and 14. After that, kisses were just kisses and although pleasant, it didn't feel the same as it did coming from someone who truly cared about you.

Sure, Massie's had boyfriends since Derrick.

There was Max Jetster who played baseball and was totally adorable but that didn't last long because he moved to Indiana. He was sweet to her and a good freshman boyfriend but innocence didn't carry over in high school. While Massie kissed Max in pretty rose gardens, Derrick was partying it up with hot sophomore girls his freshman year.

Her next boyfriend was James Mannson. James was charming. He was a perfect prince. But at the time she dated James, a certain shaggy haired goalie was dating a hot raven-haired girl and had flaunted loosing his virginity to said girl (Masey Maddox) who was a junior at the time. The pair broke up while Massie still had her prince charming. Soon after they broke up as well, and Massie's excuse was that she wanted someone who wasn't too careful with her and would live on the wild side.

After James, Massie had occasional dates and potential boy friends (PBF's as the pretty committee liked to call them) yet none of them ever got too serious. Boys drooled after Massie Block. They wanted to make her theirs, yet none succeeded.

Maybe her heart just couldn't let out for anyone else after putting so much time and effort into one boy. That one boy she knew her whole life, the one boy she thought herself destined to be with in seventh grade.

It was funny really, Massie could still remember thinking how great she and Derrick sounded together. When she came up with Massington, it was a hit. Derrington was his middle school nick name from her. It all fit so right.

 _Massington_.

Massie and Derrick.

They grew up together and he was just as popular as she was, so why not? After all, everybody already said the pair _looked_ good together.

But being in a relationship wasn't just about how well you looked standing next to someone. It was about going out to eat then deciding the food was shit then coming home to order pizza, watching the World Cup even if you had no real interest in it other than how hot the players were, giving each other back massages, rubbing feet (ew), him getting you chocolate when you were sad, him tolerating your romance movies, you tolerating his action movies, falling asleep on each other...you name it. _That_ was what relationships were really about. It was the little things turned into big things, and Massie just didn't get that with Derrick.

Maybe no matter how much Massie thought they were destined to be the perfect high school _it_ couple, they just weren't. And maybe they never would be...

The bell rang, signaling 2nd period which was French for Massie with madame Beaumont. Inwardly groaning, Massie realized that she had this class with Derrick. Just great.

If it were even possible, French was more boring that 8th period English. Madame Beaumont went on and on about the "French alphabet" and the vocabulary but never did they actually learn any French words.

Massie was in French III now and all she knew how to saw was thank you (merci) and small (petite). There were basic things that every body knew like "I love you" but other than that Massie knew nothing about how to speak in the language of love. It's not like that really mattered anyways. Massie was just taking the class so it would look good on her college resumes. For not knowing French, she passed most of the tests easily with the help of google Translate which she often used when madame Beaumont wasn't looking (aka. All the time).

The only down side was that Derrick sat in front of her only two rows ahead. Even so, the sight of the back of his head aggravated her to no extent. Why was he always everywhere? Couldn't he just leave her alone?

Today was even worse than all the others or so it felt like it to Massie.

He hair seemed extra lighter today, though Massie wasn't really sure why. The way he leaned back in his chair annoyed her. He had this air around him that made it seem like Derrick was attending a business meeting yet was relaxing at home playing on his Xbox. Why did he always seem to have the perfect balance of calm and collected? Cool yet on the edge? It made Massie want to scream.

 _Stupid Derrick stupidy Harrington._

Massie chewed on her pen, not even realizing how bad it got until madame Beaumont stopped the lesson to reprimand her.

"Beautiful girl like you, not so if you keep chewing miss Massie," madame Beaumont squeaked. Her voice was so small and light that at times it was hard to understand her. Or maybe it was because of her thick French accent...

"Oh, right," Massie blushed as she put the pen down onto the desk. In front of her she saw Derrick turn, his eyes watching her lips.

...pervert.

"Now, class I am pleased to inform you all that our principal monsieur Kensington has agreed to let the French classes do a play for this year's culture festival!" madame Beaumont cheered.

Some of the class perked up at this news, including Kristen herself who grinned. The blonde probably thought this was the perfect chance for some extra curricular, although Massie just thought it a waste of time. The brunette leaned in her seat, almost mimicking the shaggy blonde haired boy in front of her.

"There will be voting, yes, yes voting! We shall do play and it will be grand!" madame Beaumont squealed. A bunch of the girls in the class giggled in excitement.

"Oh, don't tell me you're into this thing too Kristen," Massie turned her head to watch the blonde smiling at the news.

"It could be a lot of fun Mass. Don't you think?"

"Hardly..."

Another voice chimed in on their conversation, this time it was the Briarwood jokester himself, Chris Plovert.

"So ladies, I was thinking we could do a parody on Ghost Busters? Well?" he flashed the girls a childish grin. Massie could just feel half of the female population in the room burst into pieces, although Massie couldn't really understand why. Chris had a certain unmistakable charm in him, yes, yet Massie had never really seen it. Even so, Dawson was funnier...and cuter.

Why was she thinking this?

Massie mentally slapped herself and shook her head, returning her attention to the boy in front of her. Had Chris always sat so close? She thought he sat right next to Derrick...oh well.

"As if Plovert, we're going to do something French. Duh. Maybe 'Dangerous Liaisons.'" there was twinkle in Kristen's eyes as she spoke of some French play or whatever. The blonde immediately rose from her seat and went to the front of the room to submit her vote along with the other students who were eager. The rest of them juts sat idly by in the seats, most on their iphones while others were sleeping. Only two seemed to actually be doing any work related in French.

"What about you Mass?" Chris asked.

In front of him, only a row away Massie saw Derrick's head turn at the sight of one of his best friends and his ex-friend/girlfriend talking. Derrick's jaw clenched in anticipation.

"Well I think it's all pointless. Who cares."

"Actually I have a great interest in theater," Chris jokingly pointed out.

"Funny."

Chris laughed. "C'mon. Even Massie Block should have a sense of humor."

"Oh I do. Just not for guys like you."

Chris' playful smile failed to falter. "Ouch. That hurt a bit."

"Good."

Derrick spoke then, surprising both Massie and Chris. "So what guys make you laugh then Mass? British boys maybe? Nah. How about college guys? Eh, probably not...oh! I know! Soccer players! I mean, you do have a thing for soccer players don't you? That's why you took one of my guys out of practice yesterday to do who knows what." Derrick's tone was unfriendly and almost frightening. Massie had all forgotten their semi-friendly moment back on the first Saturday of the school year when they had detention and in that very night the little "moment" they had at that party who Massie couldn't even remember throwing. His words were so harsh...so hurtful.

Suddenly she remembered just why she and Derrick had stopped becoming friends.

"What's it to you Harrington? Scared that you're already loosing your grip this early in the school year? I would be too," Massie pursed her lips in defiance.

"Seriously that was low of you."

"What was!?" her voice was raised.

"Taking out Jenks like that. You know that he likes you. You're just playing with his head."

"He so does not! Dawson and I are just friends and yesterday we were just walking around."

"Ha! _Walking around_. Even you have to realize how pathetic of an excuse that sounds Block."

" _I_ won't admit to anything because _I_ didn't do anything wrong, Harrington."

"Sure. Keep playing that innocent card until you're going out with every one of my guys and distracting them from their real job."

"Which is what? Being your slave?"

" _Soccer_ ," Derrick said in an "all-knowing" tone.

"Don't make me laugh. I hear what they all say. You torture those guys out there Derrick and who even knows why. The teams good enough."

"Good enough? We wanna be great, and practice will make us great. Not "walking around" with uppity school girls."

Uppity school girls? Oh, now Derrick was really asking for it... "And may I remind you that you were once child hood friends and _more_ with this uppity school girl?"

Derrick was taken back by the fact that Massie even publicly spoke of their past relationship. Even as they had finally become friends their freshman year, neither really spoke about the relationship they had and said relationship that both had wished to continue even after all those years of being _just friends_. Obviously that didn't last long itself, but the longing to be more remained with the two. Even now it was till there, though neither would admit it (not yet anyways).

"Yeah well we all make mistakes," was all Derrick could say.

"Clearly you were my biggest one." You could tell in his eyes that Derrick was hurt but that didn't last long. He was good at hiding his emotions, yet so was Massie.

"Whatever Block. Same can be said here."

Though the boy was turning around to face the front of the class, Massie wasn't done yet. "Has it ever even occurred to you that Dawson has other things in his life going on other than soccer?"

This peeked Derrick's interest, as well as Chris' who until then was busy looking at something on his iphone. His silence urged the alpha to go on. "He's likes to do other things. Dawson has other passions...other things he wants to do." It brought a smile on her lips when she thought about their moment in the trail together. How perfectly his lips formed into her own... "He's not just _Jenks_ #30 on the team. He's Dawson and he has a life outside of soccer. I remember you used to, too."

Derrick stared at her for a moment, thoughtful, until he said, "...and what would those things be?"

Massie smiled to herself at the thought of the brown haired, forest eyed boy. "Photography."

"Ah! I've found it!" madame Beaumont's shrill voice turned all heads to the front of the room. Thankfully for Massie, Derrick's head turned as well.

"We are going to do Dangerous Liaisons! Class please thank madame Kristen Greggory for the suggestion!" their small teacher grasped Kristen's shoulders tightly. The blonde beamed down at madame Beaumont.

 _Always the teacher's pet_ , Massie thought to herself, although not bitterly. Maybe learning and stuff was what Kristen really wanted to do. That was why the blonde always got excited about extra curricular. Obviously she needed the good grades to stay in Westchester Prep but Kristen _really_ did have a passion for learning about new things. If that made her happy, then why not let her be?

"I can't wait for the play," Massie grinned as Kristen took her seat next to the pretty committee alpha.

"Really?" Kristen furrowed her brows. "I thought you hated the idea."

"Truthfully, I did. But then I got into thinking and...i-it could be fun."

"I knew you'd come around Mass!" Kristen sighed happily.

 _Now there's one more person I need to come around to,_ Massie thought to herself as the bell rang, unaware of the chocolaty brown eyes following her form as she left the room.

xxx

"I'll do it," Massie said as she entered room 117 directly after lunch.

Mr Alcubiur looked up at her in surprise. Clearly the older gentleman wasn't expecting it, or rather wasn't expecting anybody to come to class exactly as the lunch bell rang to dismiss the students.

"Y-you're early miss Block." Apparently the older man didn't understand what she was getting at.

"I'm willing too," Massie spoke with an air of determination around her. "I'm ready to write Mr. Alcibur."

"O-oh!" he grinned, putting his sandwich down and closing his book. The man had moved on from the _Merchant of Venice_ to poems of Edgar Allen Poe. Dark stuff... "I see! That's great Massie! I hope you don't mind me asking, but what changed your mind?"

A group of students walked in just then, which included Massie's clique as well as Derrick and his boys. The soccer captain stopped in his tracks when he saw Massie, his lips formed a tight line. They hadn't spoken since second period. Still, it wasn't as if they spoke in school regularly.

"Just a friend," Massie grinned as she ignored the looks the soccer captain kept flashing her way.

"She must be a great influence."

" _He_ is a delight."

* * *

 _Dylan_

The day went by slowly enough and frankly, Dylan had enough of it.

The weather was starting to get colder, which was a good thing for Dylan. The heat only made her clothes stick to her and made her skin almost as red as her hair. The change of weather was a blessing. Clothes became baggier and a lot less tighter compared to all of the crop tops girls wore over the summer. Now, Dylan didn't have to feel insecure about her stomach showing, especially when she stood next to girls like Kristen with her athletic toned stomach and skinny minis like Massie, Alicia, and Claire.

Frowning, Dylan realized that she hadn't eaten anything that day for lunch and was starving. Maybe Kristen wanted to grab something to eat? No, she had soccer practice. Massie? She was always busy...

Alicia had dance on Thursday's and that left Claire.

Where was the blonde anyways?

Dylan didn't bother looking for her. School had just ended and kids were rushing around to get to their cars or meet their drivers. Maybe her mom would want to grab an early dinner...

Probably not.

Merri-Lee Marvil was a busy woman and had barely ever made time for Dylan. She knew her mom loved her and all, but that didn't stop the woman from going on and on about her show and never having time for any of her daughters.

Sighing, Dylan made her way outside of the school and into the street. Kids ran past her, all caught up in their busy lives yet Dylan didn't know exactly where she was going. Her stomach was rumbling and it would be a long way home on her feet. She could always call the driver sure but her phone was dying and...

A loud beep interrupted her thoughts. Dylan's head turned to the source of the sound, only to find Issac smiling at her in the Blocks' Range Rover.

"Miss Dylan," Issac smiled at her as the windows began to pull down. "Were you in need of a ride?"

"O-oh! Yeah actually..." Dylan spoke thoughtfully, almost to herself.

"Well by all means, please," he beckoned to the car. The older gentleman emerged from the drivers seat to open the door. Dylan, still standing in the exact spot spared him a curious glance.

"I can't let one of miss Massie's friends just walk home now can I? That's not what a gentleman does."

Dylan smiled. "Oh, thank you."

Hopping in, Dylan was surprised to find that the car was empty. "Where are the other girls?" Dylan asked as Issac took his seat up front.

"Miss Massie came to tell me she had last minute plans and didn't need to be driven home. She spoke of soccer tryouts? Yes, that's what it was."

Soccer tryouts? They had that three weeks ago...at least for the girls team. The boys team was already taken care of, or so Dylan had heard. Derrick Harrington was the 'captain from hell' although under Derrick's leadership, the team did very well.

"Oh. Well that's cool. Uh, where's Claire?"

"I'm not to sure but miss Massie told me not to wait."

"Ah, I see. Well thanks a lot Issac."

"Of course," he looked back at her for a brief moment. "I must say I'm surprised to see that you were not with any of the other girls. Where is miss Rivera?"  
"Dance."

"Ah. Well, at least you don't have to walk home. It's about to rain."

It was? Dylan looked out of the window. The sky was blue and clear, not a hint of rain at all.

Of course, Issac's always right. Only a few minutes later as they were nearing Dylan's home the clouds started to gray and drops of rain fell from the sky.

"Here we are," Issac announced as he pulled up to the Marvils' drive way. "Good day ms. Dylan."

"Bye Issac!"

"I'll see you tomorrow dear."

Dylan smiled back at him before she closed the door and ran in quickly to the house.

"Mom! Ryan? Jamie!?" Dylan called out as she entered the foyer of the Marvil estate. She hung her Alice+Olivia jacket on one of the coat racks near a large mirror, in which the red head took in her appearance. All in all for being stuck in the rain, Dylan didn't think she looked that bad...

"Anybody home?" Dylan called once again.

Obviously someone was. The closet where the Marvil's kept their shoes was wide open and there was noise heard upstairs. Did her mom have guests? When there were potential Merri-Lee business partners around the home, Merri-Lee usually didn't answer to any of her daughters.

"Mom!" Dylan called out once more.

No answer.

Sighing, Dylan straightened out her plaid skirt as she made her way up the spiral marble stair case.

Up stairs, her mother's office door was wide open and she could hear laughter within. Who was she with?

Making her way into the room with out introduction, Dylan stopped in her tracks. The scent of Calvin Klein cologne mixed with the smell of grass and clean laundry was too familiar for Dylan to ignore.

A man in his early fourties turned to look at the figure that entered the room. He was handsome for an older gentleman. The man's hair had faded from light brown to gray and the skin around his eyes were a bit wrinkly and not so youthful as Dylan had once remembered them to be. Yet the man still had the same warm green eyes and the welcoming smile, which he now had shown to her.

"Dylan," he sighed happily.

"Dad!" Dylan grinned as she ran to her father, bear hugging the man like a wild animal. "Daddy I've missed you!" Dylan spoke into his shoulder, breathing the scent in.

"I've missed you too sweet heart. Look how big you've grown!" her father laughed. Dylan felt the vibration of his laughter as she pulled herself closer to his chest (if it were even possible to be any closer).

Behind her, Dylan's mother leaned against her desk with her legs crossed, a glass of red wine in hand. Merri-Lee smiled fondly at the sight.

"Oh Bryan, if you think Dylan's grown you should see Ryan and Jamie," Merri-Lee spoke before she sipped her glass of red wine.

"I should see them then!" Bryan exclaimed as he let go of his eldest daughter.

"You should," Dylan's mother agreed. Merri-Lee put her glass back down on her desk and walked over a few steps to her ex-husband and Dylan. "Sweetie," she spoke to Dylan as she pushed a strand of hair away from Dylan's eyes. Merri-Lee made a face when she realized that her hair was wet, but shrugged it off. Dylan would hear from her later... "Dyl, would you mind if all five of us had dinner tonight? Your dad, me, Ryan, and Jamie?"

"No of course not! I'd love to!" Dylan grinned back up at her dad who in return smiled back down at her.

She had missed him so much...

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

"I'm in town for some business and thought I'd stop by. Besides..." he gave Merri-Lee a knowing look. "Your mother and I have things to discuss."

Merri-Lee giggled. "Yes, and your father thought it wise we should discuss it over wine."

"Hey, it's not my fault that after all of these years you're still a light-weight."

"Oh hush Bryan."

The two adults giggled as if new lovers, and Dylan's eyes gleamed with hope.

Was this even real? Was her dad really back?

Bryan Hessney had been gone for so long. Since her parent's divorce when Dylan was only 3 years old, Bryan had been jet setting around the world doing who knows what. Her dad was a prominent business man and was good at what he did. He often was linked to the Riveras when it came to being business partners, ironically that was even before Dylan and Alicia had become friends.

From what she knew all throughout her childhood, Bryan Hessney was a family man. When she was still a little girl, Dylan summered with him in Laguna Beach, where her father owned a beautiful beach house on the same cul-de-sac where Lauren Condrad's family lived. His mansion/summer home had a perfect view of the beach and Dylan just loved it there.

Once when she was five she remembered Ryan and Jamie trying to teach Dylan how to surf. Poor Dylan almost drowned but her father saved her, putting little Dylan on his shoulders and taking her near the waves with out it touching anywhere above her knees.

All her life her dad was always her hero, even if she didn't ever see him. As the years went on, visits into Westchester became regretful birthday cards and summers just weren't the same when Dylan was busy with trips to Hollywood with her mom, Ryan, and Jamie.

Soon her dad's business trips became frequently international and he as hardly ever in the state.

Even so, she had loved him with all her heart and like a shooting star he had suddenly come back into her life after not seeing her in a whole year. Last time Dylan saw him it was the end of the summer until she became an official sophomore, and he had only been in Westchester for one day. They went to the zoo and Dylan got sick. So much for a happy bonding time.

"I'm just so glad that you're back," Dylan hugged him tightly again.

"Me too princes. Me too."

Even Dylan could feel her mother's smile from her place against her dad's chest.

xxx

Ryan and Jamie came around 6 o'clock, and they were late for dinner.

Jamie came riding in on her red Porsche with a cup of Starbucks iced caramel coffee in hand. She looked exhausted yet fabulous at the same time. Had she lost weight? Dylan would ask later if she did, now wasn't the time for that.

Ryan came fifteen minutes after, all decked out as if she were going to Cochella. Ryan was always trying some different kind of style and for the past year she was in her hippie, chic, bohemian phase.

"Daddy," Ryan ran straight for her father's arms just as Dylan did. Jamie was close behind, still sipping at her Starbucks.

"Baby doll, how are you?"

"Great," Ryan grinned. Her older sister turned to Dylan and smiled. "Hey Dyl, how's school."

"Fine, how's NYU?"

"Riveting," Ryan beamed. She turned back to their father. "Oh daddy I've missed you so much."

"I know sweetie. Last time I saw you we were both almost ran over by some crazy taxi cab driver," Bryan laughed. Just then Dylan's mother came down the steps, dressed in all black and looked very sleek and sophisticated.

"New York city is a whole other world," Ryan smiled.

"Yes it is," Bryan agreed.

"Hello my darlings," Merri-Lee greeted her two eldest with hugs and kisses on the cheeks. "Are we _finally_ ready for dinner?"

"Yes, yes we are," Bryan answered for the whole group. "I've missed this. Just me and my girls."

Dylan beamed. She couldn't be any happier.

At dinner, surprisingly, things went smoothly.

They were at the Westchester County Country Club and sat outside by the lights. Though it was chiller earlier that day, it was weirdly heated up a bit or at least just warm enough for a meal outside.

"I've missed this," Bryan admitted as he downed another glass of wine.

"Careful Bryan, that's the seventh glass you've had since you came over," Dylan's mother warned him. Her answer was a sloppy smile from Dylan's father, and a request for another glass. Merri-Lee brushed it off casually, which was so not _her_ mother.

"I've missed you being home dad," Dylan cut in, smiling affectionately at her father who returned the smile back.

"Glad to be home Dyl."

The family continued to eat their meal until they reached dessert time.

"I don't think I'll get anything," Dylan quipped. She frowned at the dessert menu. Once she would've dug in but today wasn't that day. Dylan was tired of feeling fat.

"You sure sweetie? It's on me," Bryan asked his daughter.

"A little cake won't hurt Dylan," Dylan's mother said over the dessert menu. The waiter waited patiently for the Marvil/Hessney family to decide.

"We'll have a slice of dutch apple pie and the chocolate strawberry cheesecake," Jamie spoke suddenly.

"Absolutely " their waiter said before he walked off.

"I still remember dad's favorite dessert," Jamie winked. She was the oldest and by far the prettiest of the Marvil girls. Jamie tried all of these new different diets. Last time Dylan checked she was on a Paleo diet and did all of her shopping in some place called the 'Hu' kitchen in New York City. That ended as soon as Jamie realized she couldn't have basically _anything_ to eat.

"Well thank you Jamie," Bryan grinned. "I have to say the food here never fails to surprise me."

"They're constantly changing the menu," Ryan said.

"They change in the season," Meri-Lee added.

"Well I'll pay for the desserts daddy, so don't you dare touch the bill," Jamie eyed her father in an amusing suspicious way.

"No Jamie. It's my treat for my favorite girls."

"Daddy no, because...I have news," Jamie beamed at everyone on the table. Her sister dug into her Michael Kors purse until out came a small red box and inside it, one of the most beautiful rings Dylan had ever seen.

"Jamie," her mother was breathless. "W-what..."

"I'm getting married!" Jamie squealed.

Nobody squealed along with her. From the last Dylan heard Jamie didn't even have a boy friend.

"Wait? What!?" Ryan gasped. "How?"  
"I met Louie four months ago and it was just a fairy tale romance! Oh, daddy please give me your blessing," Jamie gave their dad puppy dog eyes.

"Jamie, darling...getting married is a big commitment."

"Oh, daddy I know. Louie and I are meant to be. We're soul mates daddy! Really! I just love him so much." Jamie turned to their mother who had her mouth open wide and surprise in her eyes. An unconvincing laugh burst from Merri-Lee Marvil's lips.  
"Sweetie this is a joke right?"

"No mom it's not."

"But Jamie, you're still so young. A-and you haven't even finished school!"

"I know! I won't be getting married until next year after I graduate!"

"For fucks sake I need a pain killer," Merri-Lee's hands found their way to her forehead. "I feel a headache coming."

"Jamie..." Dylan was speechless.

Bryan cleared his throat.

"Well, in spite of all this surprise...I have more."

Merri-Lee looked up at Bryan and grabbed his hand, giving him a comforting smile. He looked back at her and intertwined their fingers.

Were her parents getting back together? They were looking awfully cosy in her mother's office...

"I'm getting married."

If Dylan was speechless before...well, she was breathless now. Did he mean to her mother, again? Or to another woman?

"Her name is Clarissa and I want you all to be at the wedding."

When none of the Marvil girls spoke, Merri-Lee took it upon herself to speak for them. "Of course they'll all be there Bryan. I will too."

"Thank you," he squeezed her hand then un-intertwined their fingers.

"Aren't you girls happy for your father?" Merri-Lee glanced at all three of her daughters who looked paler than usual.

"D-dad," Dylan mumbled. "Why?"

"Dylan don't be rude!" Merri-Lee scolded her. "Your father has finally found someone and I'm happy for him. If I can forgive and accept, then as my daughters I can hope that you can too."

"Mom! This is so different!" Ryan gasped. "Dad..."

"Darling, nothing's going to change."

"Yeah, you're just not going to be around even more than you used to," Ryan glared into her plate.

"Sweetie...girls..." Bryan stammered, trying to find the right words. Thing is, there were none.

Just then the dessert came and suddenly the thought of cake was more pleasing than listening to her father talk about marriage.

* * *

 _Chris_

 _(earlier that day, after school)_

"Is it just me or was Harrington's practice real rough today?" Dawson Jenkins made out a breathy laugh as he slowed his pace next to Chris. The boys were running their end of the practice laps, and to be quite honest, Chris was exhausted.

To show Dawson that he wasn't to be messed with, Derrick took out all his anger on the entire team as a message to Dawson and to everyone else that when one of them fuck up, they all suffer. Indeed, they did suffer.

He felt as if his legs were about to give out and the cold air was surprisingly only making things worse. For once Chris begged for the sun to be back. It was an unpopular opinion, but the wind only made it harder for Chris to run against it. Even so, Chris didn't mind sweating under the sun. Yeah it sucked but it made the work out more realistic to him. It added a sense of character.

Deciding not to respond, Chris only ran faster away from the brown haired boy who was the reason why the team was basically dying.

He knew that he was being rude, but at the moment Chris didn't really care. He was dying and in need of water and a cold shower. Dawson Jenkins wasn't helping it at all. In fact, Dawson Jenkins was the reason why Chris was so cold to him in the first place. He deserved it.

What was with the kid anyways?

Going out with Massie Block to skip soccer practice was a death sentence when it came down to the fact that Massie's ex was the captain. Derrick was harsh enough on the boys already and with so much in stake for the championship and redeeming themselves from their big loss last year...well, let's just say Derrick wasn't about to give up so easily. He especially wasn't going to back down this year when all the pressure was turned on him being the first ever Junior boy to be captain.

This ticked off a lot of seniors, sure, yet they all knew that only Derrick was right for the job as captain. He had all of the leadership skills, and well...just skills in general. Derrick was great at soccer and that wasn't to be questioned with. The coaches loved him and the guys respected him.

Derrick had it all, as usual.

 _Only three more laps to go Plovert. You can do this,_ Chris thought to himself as he continued to run across the soccer practice field, wind hitting his face. He'd have to moisturize later (as weird as that sounded).

Glancing behind him, Chris saw Dawson running by himself all the way in the back. Before this, Derrick had made Dawson run four other laps as an extra punishment on skipping practice right before their big game Saturday morning.

Feeling pitiful, Chris inwardly groaned as he felt his legs pulling him to the back to run in pace next to Dawson. Clearly, the boy was surprised as one of Derrick's best friends choose to run next to him. This earned Chris a look from Josh but other than that thankfully none of the other boys noticed.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Running. What does it look like Jenks?"

"Won't Derrick get mad?" Dawson furrowed him brows in confusion.

"Nah. I'm not Massie," Chris joked, despite the fact that he felt as if he were going to drop dead any second now. "Besides, I think even Derrick can agree that you've had enough of his rage for one day. Let's save it for tomorrow, yeah?"

Dawson laughed. "You know what? You're a funny guy Plovert."

"So I've been told."

"As for Massie...look, I know you're one of Derrick's guys and all and you're real close but I-I swear nothing happen. I mean it wasn't like a date or...anything."

"Right," Chris gave him a questioning look. From the way he stuttered, Chris didn't quite believe Dawson yet he wasn't going to confront him about it. It wasn't his business what Dawson did or didn't do with Massie Block. "Just watch out Jenks. I know she's all rainbow and sunshine but Massie isn't like that 24/7. No girl is. Besides, no offense but girls like Massie go out with big shot guys. She probably wants to be just friends." It was harsh but it was true.

"I know," Dawson laughed. "But I was serious when I said that nothing's going on." The boy looked a bit disappointed at Chris' words, but Chris thought nothing of it.

"Alright, I believe you."

"Good," Dawson stopped running. Had they already finished running laps? Apparently so. "I'm glad you believe me. It seems like you're my only friend on the team."

Chris narrowed his eyes. "We're not gonna braid each others hair and have sleepovers now Jenks."

"Oh totally," Dawson laughed. Chris managed a small smile. Truthfully, Dawson wasn't bad. He was the reason why most of the team would be sore tomorrow morning, sure...but all in all the guy wasn't bad.

"Just keep an eye out for Derrick. At least for a week. I'm sure he won't be mad for long. Also try to never miss a practice unless you're loosing a limb."

"Will do," Dawson saluted him.

"Well see ya around Jenks," Chris waved awkwardly as Chris ran off to meet Kemp, who always waited for him buy the bleachers after practice.

"Yeah, see ya."  
The two boys parted way and Chris jogged lightly over to a very impatient looking Kemp Plovert who had his arms crossed.

"C'mon man I wanna get something to eat," Kemp complained as Chris reached him.

"Sorry. Got caught up talking to Jenks."

"Dunno why," Kemp scowled over to Dawson's retrieving figure. "That might be the most hated guy on the team right now."

"Only because Derrick says so," Chris grumbled to himself as he took a green _Gatorade_ water bottle and sprayed water on his face.

"Who's side are you on Plovert?" Kemp raised a brow. "I swear you're acting like Josh...all manipulative and secretive and shit."

"What about me?" Josh Hotz appeared just then, taking his cleats off on the bench next to the boys.

"We're talking about how much you suck ass," Kemp answered in a nonchalant tone. "Of course you were, asshole."

Chris laughed at his friend's banter.

Cam came up to them, already finished showering with a towel in his hands. "You guys ready to go?" He was busy drying his hair while running his fingers across the screen of his iphone.

"Just waiting on Harrington," Josh replied.

"He's coming up soon. The guy's just giving Jenks a hard time is all."

"Why?" Chris pressed.

"Why do you care all of a sudden?" Kemp gave him a questioning glare. "Derrick's our friends not Jenks."

"He's not so bad guys, honestly."

"I'm sure he's not," Cam agreed. "Yet the guy's an idiot for trying to hit off Massie. Everybody knows that you can't get with her unless you wanna get on Derrick's bad side. It's like a silent rule or something."

"We should put it in the guy hand book," Kemp smirked.

"What hand book?" Josh asked.

"It's a joke Hotz."

"Ah."

"Well I don't see what the problem is," Chris spoke. "Derrick and Massie haven't been anything since the end of 8th grade."

"Even so," Cam sighed. "Derrick and Massie are always going to be _Derrick and Massie_. They know that and so does everybody else. I mean, why do you guys think Derrick's never been in a long lasting relationship?"

"Because he likes to sleep around like the rest of us," Kemp said as if it were the only obvious answer.

Cam laughed. "Other than that. But seriously, Derrick's always wanted Mass and she's the same way even if she doesn't see it."

"Derrick needs to get laid by a supermodel then maybe he can stop moping around about Massie fucking Block and the pretty committee skanks," Kemp rolled his eyes.

"Harsh," Josh whistled.

"It's true."

"Whatever, who cares. Shut up now Derrick's coming this way," Cam turned his head to where Derrick emerged from the locker rooms, already changed.

"Gross," he said once he made his way to _their_ bench. "Did you three not shower yet?" he glanced at Chris, Kemp, and Josh.

"No we were too busy talking about how much we want to beat up Jenks for making us run all of those laps," Kemp lied.

"Or maybe we should be thanking you for that Harrington," Josh groaned. "Why'd you have to make us all do it?"

"I had to punish the entire team. Aka, you guys."

"Whatever. Can we just go to Henri's now?" Cam clutched his stomach. "Man, I'm starved."

"Agreed," Derrick nodded his head. "Only if these three scrooges shower."

The blonde smirked and threw towels at Chris, Kemp, and Josh. "Don't drop the soap boys."

"You're disgusting Harrington," Kemp rolled his eyes.

"The faster you go the quicker we eat," Derrick smirked.

Chris smiled at the thought of food. Practice was brutal, and he needed something to take his mind off all this 'Dawson Jenkins' dilemma.

xxx

(later that night)

Home was crazy.

There wasn't a moment that Chris' mother wasn't running around with thimbles and scraps of fabric in her hand, while screaming at her helpers to "sew faster."

Maria Plovert was a designer and she owned her own little store called "Glass Slipper and Other Magical Things."

Although very much wealthy, Maria didn't grow up to the same privileges that her husband and her son had gotten. Maria grew up in Queens, New York and took the subway to Manhattan just to work at for a small little retail store. When she was 18 she took almost 1 hour trips to Manhattan and back home via subway just to make money to pay her rent. When Maria turned 19, she had met successful Harvard graduate, Geoffrey Plovert who was the son of a successful business man. Geoffrey worked on Wall Street, while Maria slaved away for days on 5th ave, measuring and helping fit clothes for the rich girl types that Chris went to school with now.

Geoffrey and Maria met in a coffee shop on 27th st. Ever since then, they had been inseparable. It was a whirlwind romance and after only a year of dating the two were married in Chris' grandmother's back yard garden which would be mistaken as a mini park filled with beautiful rose bushes.

Chris was born a year later after Geoffrey and Maria honeymooned for an entire month in Paris.

Chris Plovert's parents fell in love the way everybody dreamed to fall in love, and they fell out of it the way everybody dreaded of falling out of love.

It was slow at first. Just little things that the two didn't understand, then suddenly it built up until it came crashing down on Maria and Geoffrey.

Suddenly Maria became too "bossy for her own good," as Chris' dad had put it.

Geoffrey spent too many hours at work overtime.

Maria started skipping making her husband lunches to pack to work.

Geoffrey missed Chris' soccer games because he knew Maria was going to be there.

Maria didn't come home until very late at night from the store.

Geoffrey started taking week long business trips when it only usually lasted two or three days.

Maria used one of the guest rooms as her new closet, just for the fact that she didn't want to share one with Geoffrey.

Geoffrey started sleeping in one of the guest rooms.

Maria didn't wear her wedding ring.

Suddenly it all came to a screeching halt. All of the denying a divorce and unhappiness. It all ended when Geoffrey Plovert got into a car accident that almost ended his life. With him in the passenger seat, Victoria Bates who was the wife of an ex-business partner of the Plovert family.

Their affair was revealed by a tearful Victoria, who thought Geoffrey was going to die and wanted to confess her sins while she still had the chance to right her wrongs with the Ploverts.

Geoffrey lived, and Victoria went off to her husband who found out and divorced her as well as breaking off all ties he had with the Plovert family business.

This happened only a year ago and yet his parents were still married, and unhappy as ever.

"Geoffrey, please pass the salt," Maria gritted her teeth as the dark haired beauty shoved lettuce in her mouth. Her eyes stared darkly across the table meant for eight at her husband. In the middle of it all was Chris, who wore a look of annoyance on his face.

As usual, Mr. Plovert was busy looking at his iphone. Most likely watching a game and of course not paying any attention to his wife.

" _Geoffrey_."

The older Plovert inched closer the edge of his seat and biting his lip in anticipation of whatever was going on in his smart phone's screen. "Ohh.."

"I said please pass the salt," Maria pressed. When she saw her husband's attention did not fade from his screen she sighed and slammed her fork down on her plate, causing Chris' dad to look up.

"Did you need something?" he asked hurriedly before looking back down at his phone. Maria Plovert rose gracefully from her seat and walked around Chris to his father's side of the table until she took the salt in one swift, angry movement. Slamming her butt back into the seat she continued to glare at her husband as she began to pour some salt onto her steak.

"Clearly not anymore."

"Oh," he looked up for a brief moment. "Oh, you needed the salt? Why didn't you just ask."

Chris inwardly groaned. For a smart business type, Chris' father could be a real idiot.

" _Right_ ," Maria's voice was crisp and harsh. "Silly me. Next time I should ask."

"You should honey."

There was a storm of anger behind Maria's Plovert gray eyes. Chris could only imagine what was going through his mother's head. It was a true wonder how his parents hadn't killed each other yet. To be honest, it was a real wonder that they weren't divorced.

Frowning into his steak and salad, Chris thought how much more convenient it would be if Geoffrey and Maria Plovert finally did what should have been done a year ago after Geoffrey's accident.

What was the point in waiting?

It was plain as day that they didn't love each other anymore. Chris could see it, his friends could, hell his coach could probably see it from the bleachers at the games. Come to think of it, they didn't even sit together. Maria was always with some Westchester mother who was apart of boosters and Geoffrey sat alone with his only casual piece of clothing; a Westchester Varsity Soccer cap. With the hat his father wore a suit, so the man still looked out of place.

Before the big accident Chris started to see his parents as real people. As real people, it was clear they didn't love each other. Instead of just usually seeing mom and dad, Chris saw a man and a woman who had fallen in love and had fallen out of it. It was sad and unfortunate, yes, but it happened to almost everyone he knew at some point in time.

Truth be told, Chris Plovert was scared of marriage. Marriage was the one commitment that was hard to get out of. It wasn't easy to leave. Divorce was messy and cost a lot of money, as well as personal damage to the children of the divorcees.

These days nobody wanted to talk out their problems. People just wanted their personal issues fixed, and yeah that was understandable but all relationships are difficult. Marriage especially... Nobody even tried anymore. That, in Chris' mind, was why most marriages ended in divorce. People didn't want to try. After the chase, things became pointless. Shit became boring. Boo hoo. That's life. That's marriage. The real tragedy is when two people can't work it out and really did love each other.

 _Did_ love each other.

His parent's were a primal example for this theory. Maybe a little talk here and there and a few less business trips by Mr. Plovert and his mom and dad wouldn't completely hate each other. But then worse got even worse and Chris' parents resented each other. He could see it in their eyes.

Then BAM!

The big crash as well as the revealed affair and it only went down hill from there. Or even more down hill seeing as how things were already down hill...

"Chris honey aren't you going to eat your food?" his mother soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

He hadn't even realized it but Chris was just picking at his salad, dancing his fork along the green leaves. His steak was untocuhed.

"I'm not all that hungry mom."

"Why? You had practice today. Apparently it was brutal, or so you said," his mother gave him an encouraging smile.

It always made Chris wonder how his mother was so strong in a house that clearly hadn't felt like home to her in a long time.

"I ate after with the boys."

"At Henri's I suppose."

"Yes, at Henri's," Chris laughed. He knew how much his mother hated that place. It was such a 'man cave' as the older Mrs. Plovert had once told him and his friends. She scolded the boys for always going and "wasting money" yet she knew better than to stop them because there really was no stopping them.

Henri's was tradition.

"Maybe we'll go out to eat one of these days." Chris was surprised to hear his father's voice. The older man finally put his phone aside and had just begun picking on his plate of salad and steak. "We haven't been out in a while, you and I. You're grades are pretty good too, or that's what I was told at the parent teacher conference. You'd like that wouldn't you Chris?"

"Yeah dad! Uh, maybe this weekend?"

"Sure thing son. Dinner for two Saturday night? After you win the big game of course," his father winked.

"Oh, well isn't mom coming?" Chris turned to his mother who stiffened in her seat. "Aren't you going to join us mom?"

"I-I can't Chris, I have some business to take care of out of town."

"Oh."

Mrs. Plovert reached her arm out to caress Chris' cheek. "Oh darling we'll celebrate when I get home. I'll only be gone to Pittsburgh for the weekend."

"Pittsburgh? What's in Pittsburgh?"

Maria glanced up at Geoffrey who in returned cleared his throat awkwardly. "Just some good business partnership for your mom, Chris," the older gentleman answered.

Chris' mother continued on with her food.

"Why in Pittsburgh though? Is it that important?" And since when did his dad answer for his mom?

"Who I am partnering with is _very_ good and will help a lot with the business."

"But why-"

"Sweetie let's just eat, okay?" Maria interrupted her son. "We can talk about this some other time."

Chris' jaw clenched.

Some other time would be later on, later on the next week, the next week a whole two months later, and those two months would become never.

His parents tried to act as if Chris didn't know what was going on in their marriage but he damn well knew.

After all, it wasn't as if they didn't make it obvious...

"Well I'm not hungry, remember mom?" Chris pushed his plate to the side and pulled himself out of the seat. "Enjoy your dinner with _dad_."

… _and get a damn divorce while your at it,_ he wanted to add but instead the young teen kept that to himself as he stormed up the stairs, locking himself in his room for the rest of the night.

* * *

 _Massie_

The next day, Massie hunted Dawson down-literally. Yesterday she skipped out on Issac and said she watching soccer tryouts while she was really trying to find Dawson after practice. Practice for the boys team ran a little late yesterday and after an hour of waiting Massie had decided that she had enough and called Issac to come take her home.

"Dawson! Dawson hey!" Massie huffed and puffed. Running in heels was a bitch. "Dawson wait up!" Massie reached out to grab the back of his sleek black uniform jacket, pulling the boy down to her height.

"Why are you ignoring me?" Massie questioned.

The boy turned and gray eyes looked in to hers...gray eyes, not Dawson's forest green.

"Uh..." the random guy gave Massie a confused look.

"O-oh. Sorry," Massie stammered as she let go of her vice like grip on the poor boy's jacket. "I thought you were someone else."

The boy didn't say another word as he continued to fast walk away from the very confused brunette.

Talk about awkward...

"Look at you harassing poor boys. I knew you were a wild one," a familiar voice spoke behind her. A smile graced Massie's lips as she turned to the figure of Dawson Jenkins with his hands in his pockets and a warm kind smile on his face.

"I thought he was you," Massie blushed in embarrassment.

"Well Ryan Wynn should take that as a compliment. Not everyone can look like a Roman God."

"Ha ha very funny," Massie tilted her head and laughed.

Dawson eyed her carefully, as if studying her face.

"What?" Massie blushed. She hated when he looked at her like that. It made her feel so insecure, and insecure was something that Massie Block did _not_ do.

"Your beautiful."

If it were possible to be more red in the face, then Massie was a tomato. Dawson knew just what to say, and now so did she.

"Look I wanted to talk about the other day..."

Before she could get to her point, Dawson got to his. "Oh yeah, about that...look I know you're Massie Block and everything and I'm just some random guy...which I get, believe me. I know your used to going out with fancy boarding school guys and what not. I get it. You just wanna be friends, and I like that. I'm good with being _just friends_."

Just then Dawson punched Massie in the gut. Oh, wait no he didn't. But it felt like he did. Actually, if he had punched her in the gut it would feel a lot better than she did right now. Dawson wanted to be just friends? But nobody wanted to be _just friends_ with Massie Block. She was Massie Block, and she wasn't good at rejection. In fact she never had to deal with rejection other than the end of her friendship with Derrick, and that was a bad time in her life along with the rest of the pretty committee.

"O-oh," Massie tried her hardest to not look so disappointed. She flashed Dawson an encouraging smile. "Right. Well...I'm glad that you understand."

"Of course Massie," Dawson grinned. "Look, I'm gonna head off to class now. Catch ya 8th period?"

"Yeah, definitely," Massie sheepishly smiled. "See you."

Dawson walked away and Massie stood lamely, books in hand as students rushed past her to get to their first period class. The morning announcements came on and Massie heard the familiar voices of Josh and Alicia (who both surprisingly hadn't killed each other yet) who droned on about after school activities and practices this and that.

Still Massie stood at the same spot.

Was there something wrong with her? She tried her hardest to look perfect. Massie wore the best clothes, had great hair, nice shoes...Dawson even thought she was naturally beautiful, or so he had said. Maybe it was all just talk?

Massie noticed a figure moving near her, heading to their locker. It was Derrick and he glanced at her awkwardly, probably wondering why Massie stood alone in the middle of the court yard.

"Block?"

Looking up, Massie pursed her lips. Suddenly she remembered who she was and her reputation, as well as who Derrick was and what he was to her.

"What Harrington?" she bit out harshly.

"What are you doing?" Derrick didn't seem affected by her harsh tone. He lingered, as if almost waiting for her.

"N-nothing. I was just heading to class."

"Right," he gave her an odd look then headed off.

Just a few months ago she could still remember watching Derrick walk off in the very same court yard the two stood now, and the feeling of rejection came down on her once more, engulfing her and drowning her in the emptiness she had tried putting away in the back of her mind.

Derrick didn't want her then and Dawson didn't want her now.

It was a chilling truth that she had to learn. She wasn't perfect enough and perhaps she never would be.

Frowning, Massie headed off to first period.

xxx

 _7 months ago..._

"Hey Harringotn," Massie smirked up at the shaggy haired blonde boy who shared a locker next to hers in the school's courtyard.

For February, it was relatively warm. Or maybe it was the fact that it was Valentines Day weekend that made things so...hot?

"What's up Block," Derrick said gruffly, almost ignoring her.

What was his problem anyways?Derrick had been acting a bit distant since the new year and even before that he wasn't with Massie all the time like he used to. Even so, they were still the best of friends (or Massie thought) and Valentines Day was their thing, no matter how distant they had become.

"What are you going to ignore me now?" Massie joked.

Derrick looked up from his phone, grabbed his books, then shut his locker. "Sorry. What did you want?" he smiled at her.

It never failed to amaze Massie how much his smile did wonders to her. They were just friends, but even so Massie felt like she was melting.

"Well I just wanted to know what time you were coming over on Saturday."

"Saturday?" Derrick itched the back of his neck. "About that..."

"We always spend Valentines day together Der, it's what we do."

"I-I know that but...look, Massie," he sighed. "Look, I think you and I both know we're not as close as we used to. Even so I'm glad we're still friends and all but...people are starting to think we're _more."_

"So what?" Massie laughed. "You and I don't care about what people think. If anything people care what _we_ think."

Derrick rolled his eyes. Did he think she was being too arrogant? She wasn't trying to be...

"Okay Block, but I have a date this weekend."

"A date? Who?" Massie pressed. She shut her locker a little too hard at these words. The bang had heads shifted to look at the pair. The last thing Massie wanted was to cause a scene.

"Casey Lawrence," Derrick muttered, looking down at her shoes.

"Casey Lawrence?" Massie almost yelled. "You know that I the Casey Lawrence."

"Why do you care?" Derrick raised an accusing brow. "It's not like we're dating."

Massie was hurt, and she was sure that was obvious in her eyes. "Obviously but we've spent Valentines day together since 7th grade. It's our thing Derrick. Even if we're not dating...we always spend it together." She pressed her lips together and glared up at the blonde. How dare he?

"I know and I'm sorry, but seriously Block we're not freshman anymore or little kids. We're growing up now and I want to be in a serious relationship. I can't have that with you hanging around."

"With me hanging around?" Massie gasped. "What's your problems we're supposed to be best friends. I tell you everything...you tell _me_ everything..."

"I know! I just...ugh. People think since we're always together that we have some kind of secret relationship and I don't want people thinking that any more. Even so, I can hardly keep a girl because they're all jealous of you."

"That's not my problem Derrick!"

"You act like I don't know that. I'm not blaming you, honestly."

"You are!" she pointed a finger at him. "What's your problem?"

"You're my problem!" Derrick's eyes were filled with rage now. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Tears welled in her eyes now but Massie wouldn't dare let him see her cry.

"D-Derrick...you're my oldest friend. I don't want anybody ruining that."

"And nobody is, you are."

Massie bit down on her lip so hard that she thought there would surely be blood after.

"Derrick..."

"Look, I just need space Block. Please we'll do something after I promise," his eyes were pleading, but Massie wasn't willing to be so forgiving like she had before.

"Don't bother."

Derrick looked as if he wanted to apologize but another voice interrupted the pair. Casey Lawrence leaned against the archway that led to the hallway and smiled fondly at Derrick.

"Derrick! You coming?" she grinned.

Massie scoweld at the tall blonde.

"Yeah, jut gimme a sec."

Casey frowned when she saw that Massie was with him but shrugged and turned away into the hallway, waiting for him.

"I'm sorry Massie."

"It's whatever. You said you needed space right? _Go_."

Derrick was taken aback by her rough tone. He looked as if he were going to stay with her for a second, but clearly changed his mind as he turned his back and walked away from Massie.

Staring at the retrieving figure, Massie bit down her lip again. Surely there had to be blood. She felt tears beginning to threaten coming out of her eyes but she blinked them back. She was Massie Block and pretty, perfect girls didn't cry in public. There were still kids in the halls and she wouldn't dare let them see her cry.

Besides, Derrick didn't deserve her tears.

She had already turned around and walked the other way before seeing Derrick turn to look at her, only to find the brunette was gone.

He frowned but continued on with his day, and so did she.

xxx

After that the two would continue to try their hardest to fix their friendship. Massie had to learn to accept Derrick's potential girlfriends (or one-night stands) and Derrick would learn to deal with Massie's attitude against his partying.

No matter how hard they tried, nothing worked. A few months later and the two would cut all ties of friendship for good, as well as the rest of their cliques.

Maybe, just maybe that was how things were supposed to be.

Massie had to accept it. She just wasn't meant for Derrick Harrington and now she wasn't meant for Dawson either.

* * *

 **...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, as always, please review :)))))))**


	6. Friday I'm in Love

**Goodbye Summer, HELLO FALL.**

 **Personally, I love fall and as the summer days are coming to an end, I just wanted to inform the people who do read this story (btw you rock ;p) that I probably won't update as much.**

 **I tried writing as much as I can in as little time because I wanted to get everything out before I got too busy with school work. Anyways, here in the next chapter and I say this everytime: Review, please!**

 **So, on to the chapter, you will be witnessing A LOT OF ALICIA. One of my guest reviewers commented on how they wanted more Alicia which inspired this chapter, which actually got a bit more story line into this that I thought of (which I'm glad for). PS. for all you guest reviewers, if you want I'd love if you left a name that you can use everytime you review just so I know who you all are :) I'd love to know who is keeping up every update, and not just that but I like to see what certain people will always have to say. If you don't want to, that's fine. I'm not forcing anyone but I just thought it would be a nice little thought to put in your head.**

 **Anyways...a lot of Alicia, Josh, and as always I had to put my MassiexDerrickxDawson in this. After all, MassandDer are the main bitches aka that's why in the bio of the story their the two characters hahahaaaaa.**

 **PS. The "previously" parts can contain any information from previous chapters that aren't necessarily all from the chapter before. You'll see that in this chapter's "previously" part. For me, this part contains info that is necessary to the current chapter. Like for example, I'm not going to include Chris' family probs in the "previously part" because it won't be important this chapter. Maybe in the future (not maybe, because IT WILL) it will be important to include.**

* * *

 _Previously:_ Massie accepts her feelings for Dawson despite the fact she has only known him for two days. Dylan's dad comes back to town (which is rare) in which the Marvil family is shocked to find that her father is getting married and so is Jamie, one of her older sisters. Soccer is becoming more pressure than fun when the stakes are high to redeem the team from their loss at the championship game last year. Kristen is dating Valmont soccer player, Dempsey Solomon. Westchester and Valmont are rivals. Josh tries to befriend Alicia again while they are at detention the first Saturday of the school year, but Alicia won't agree to his "friendship," especially since he is seeing senior alpha Skye Hamilton.

Chapter 6

Friday I'm In Love

 _Alicia_

There was no girl luckier than Alicia Rivera.

Well, maybe with an exception of Massie Block. Other than that, Alicia was damn lucky and she knew it. Not all could be popular, wildly wealthy, and a true beauty (though most guys just referred to her as hot).

It was Friday and instead of usually donning her burgundy red and navy blue for the Westchester Crusaders, she was going to wear black and red for the Valmont Valley Black Hawks. Was it betrayal? Perhaps, but Alicia didn't care. Landon Crane had taken her out on two dates now and going to his game would only seal the deal of Alicia becoming girlfriend material. Who didn't want to date Landon? He was the Valmont equivalent of Derrick, or so they said, and scoring him would be one for the books...not that Alicia was keeping count or anything..

Sure, she had dated her fair share of boys and gone out with a bunch of cute guys but never had she ever gone out with someone like Landon. He was different. Landon was total alpha material and it was a wonder that he even chose her to go out with.

Alicia smiled to herself the entire day and had barely even paid any attention to her salad at lunch.

"Are you gonna eat that?" Dylan grumbled next to her. The red head had her hair up in a sock bun and a large scarf knit infinity wrapped tightly around her neck. The weather in Westchester was definitely getting a lot colder, and lately so was Dylan. What was with her? Dylan had been in a bad mood for almost an entire week now.

"Uh...no. Here, take it," Alicia pushed her salad to Dylan.

"Thanks."

Despite Dylan's gloomy mood, nothing could ruin Alicia's and she sure wasn't going to let Dylan ruin the happy little rainbow glowing above her head. Landon didn't know she was coming today so when he saw her it was going to be _magical_.

Alicia was basically dancing in her seat. How lucky was she? Not even Massie had ever scored a guy like this. Speaking of Massie...

"I am so pissed," Massie Block slammed her lunch tray down on the circular table. She had a look of annoyance in her chestnut eyes and her lips were formed in a scowl. What was with everyone today?

"What's wrong?" Kristen asked.

"Casey Lawrence thought it would be funny to step get my clothes with her huge, stinky wet feet as I was showering after we swam in gym today, so I totally had to get my back up which is so ugly," Massie groaned. She inclined her head to her gray uniform tee and the plain black skirt and the askew red tie hanging loosely around her neck. Alicia didn't really understand why she was complaining. It's not like Massie even looked bad. As usual, the alpha of the pretty committee was still picture perfect. Massie could wear a bag and it wouldn't be a big deal.

"Casey Lawrence? As in the Casey Lawrence who dated Derrick last year for like two weeks?"

"Yes, _that_ Casey Lawrence," Massie confirmed.

"I thought she already graduated?" Kristen questioned.

"No. She's still a sophomore."

"Ah."

"Forget her," Alicia gave Massie a reassuring smile. "She's just jealous because you're what guys want and that she's the one night stand most guys get."

That didn't make Massie feel any better.

"I hate her and everyone in this stupid pathetic school," Massie bit out.

"Make that this entire town," Dylan muttered.

Maybe Alicia and Kristen were the only ones in a good mood? Of course Claire too (probably) but the other blonde PC member was sick so that left only four pretty committee girls sitting at lunch today.

"Well I have news!" Alicia beamed.

"This will be good," Dylan said sarcastically. Alicia was going to call her out on her rude tone but chose to ignore it. Whatever was up Dylan's butt looked as if it wasn't coming out any time soon. She'd let her work off whatever was bothering her...

"I'm going to Landon's game tonight," Alicia said suggestively. "And if things look really good, maybe he'll _score_ in another way if ya know what I'm getting at."

"Ew," Kristen fake barfed. "TMI. Also why are you going to Valmont's game? You should be cheering on Westchester tonight at the home field."

"Yeah I know, but seriously Kris I need to start looking like girlfriend material if I want to ever be anything with Landon."

"You've only been on one date..." Kristen pointed out.

"Two," Alicia corrected her and stuck out her tongue in defiance.

"Ok whatever."

"Don't be so grumpy Kristen. You act like you don't have a Valmont hottie yourself," Alicia winked in a joking manner. Kristen rolled her eyes but smiled despite of it.

"Yeah, so what? Even so, I'm still going to all of the boys' games," Kristen said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I don't know why you're wasting your time," Alicia muttered. "It's not like any of the soccer guys wanna see us at their games. We're better off over at Valmont."

Before Kristen could argue, Massie spoke up. "I agree," the alpha quipped.

"You do?" all three girls questioned at the same time, staring up at their leader with an awe-struck look in their eyes. Was she serious? Not like Alicia was complaining..

"Yeah. Alicia's right. Our soccer team don't care for us just because their stupid captain hates us, so why waste our time? I think it'd be great." Massie looked unsure for a moment but that moment was soon gone as she held her head up in an almost political matter. If she wanted to, Massie could have been a damn good politician. She had all the confidence...just not the politics part... _eh, never mind_.

"Well I'm all for it!" Alicia beamed.

"Sure," Dylan spoke in a monotone voice, still picking at Alicia's salad.

Kristen bit her lip, unsure of herself. Finally, she budged. "Oh, fine. Whatever. Let's do it."

Massie grinned. "Done."

The girls all laughed, even Dylan.

"Done."

"Done."

"And done!"

The pretty committee giggled, in their own world as the feeling of their innocent middle school days over came them.

They were too busy laughing among themselves that they didn't even notice the other tables staring at them, especially the school's most popular boys, as well as their male counterparts.

* * *

 _Josh_

"So tell me why you're going out with Natalia Kirkman?" Josh questioned a very happy looking Kemp. He looked too happy...

"Because she's hot. Duh."

Kemp was currently playing around with his fries and occasionally grinning down at his phone. Maybe she, the "girl of the night", as the boys liked to call Kemp's conquests, was sexting him as they ate lunch. Natalia Kirkman was known to be _out there_.

Josh tried to get the thoughts of Natalia and Kemp out of his mind and tried to focus on other more important things. Aka, soccer. Soccer, soccer, soccer. That was all he was to think about on game days. Even if he didn't want to (which occasionally he most definitely _didn't_ ) being the varsity soccer team captain's best friend made him think about soccer 24/7. There was no escape. Hell, even looking up from his food he could see the Soccer Spirit's (the soccer team's version of cheerleaders) painted signs decorating the entire cafeteria.

There was literally no escape, and Skye Hamilton painting his number on her face didn't help either.

What was with that too? Skye and Josh weren't dating or anything. They were definitely seeing each other, but dating? No. That was completely out of the question. Even so, that didn't make Skye hard to look at. Hooking up with a hot senior was great. It was more than great, but when that senior was Skye Hamilton? Well, that was just the cherry on top.

Staring back down at his hoagie, Josh decided he wasn't all that hungry anymore and begrudgingly took out his AP physics work out of his black book bag.

"Seriously Josh? Man, you're the only person I know who would do homework at a time like this," Kemp said.

"Shut up."

"You should be studying Tressa Prep's lineup," another voice chimed in, and it was Derrick's. No surprise there.

"Tressa Prep doesn't worry me," Josh said lazily as he flipped through his physics book.

"Well they should. I hear Harry Marz is real good this year," Derrick grimaced. Though he tried to hide it well for the sake of the team and the school, Derrick was always a nervous wreck. He was just a lot used to it now after playing for all the years he had been, but after winning championship his freshman year and being the first ever Junior captain in history...the kid was a like a crazed squirrel on drugs before games. Derrick was good at hiding it though, so nobody ever questioned it or was concerned other than his closest friends. Come to think of it, Derrick was good at hiding a lot of things.

"Well you're better than Harry Marz," Josh said in an attempt to ease Derrick's mind.

It didn't help.

Derrick kept biting the tips of his finger nails and tapping his foot. After finishing his burger, which he did a little too quickly, the soccer captain tried doing school work himself yet ended up tapping his pen non stop.

"Derrick, chill man," Cam said, a look of concern and annoyance graced his face. "You're stressing over nothing."

"Can't help it," Derrick mumbled. The soccer captain was seen staring off down on the table. Cam decided to not bother trying to talk to him, and Kemp was still busy texting (probably sexting) Natalia Kirkman. Chris was eating normally and that left Josh, who was just watching his friends yet stressing himself over the big game.

Looking back down at his book, Josh sighed. Fuck physics. Physics could be dealt with later. Or he could just ask a Soccer Spirit girl to do it...

The sound of laughter then filled the entire cafeteria and Josh turned his head back to see the pretty committee all laughing over something.

All his life that he had known them, that was always how the girls were seen. To Josh, they were always giggling over something in their own perfect little world doing who knows what. They were such a mystery to him and to everyone else.

Then, he started dating Alicia and she had been just what he imagined. _Perfect_.

That didn't last however. They had dated and over came a lot, especially after Massie and Derrick broke up and the two wanted noting to do with each other. Alicia and Josh stayed strong however, an accomplishment to them both seeing as how all of the other couples broke apart except Cam and Claire...but they were a whole different story.

Suddenly their two alphas became friends again the beginning of freshman year, and things went back to normal. Kemp and Kristen had began sleeping together but that wasn't till later and other than that everyone was good friends with each other, _and_ even if they'll always deny it, Massie and Derrick had always had that undeniable chemistry that made everyone wonder why the two didn't decide to date again. Even so, they were each other's everything despite Massie's boyfriends and Derrick's various dates with different girls.

All was well...and then, it just wasn't.

Alicia became a lot more high strung and Josh had to focus on soccer to live up to what the team had accomplished his freshman year. Obviously that didn't end well, and then suddenly he didn't want to deal with Alicia's constant bitching.

What were the exact words he used when they broke up again?

" _You're becoming a carbon copy of Massie. Get off your high horse Leesh, we're finished."_

Ah, right. That was it.

Josh grimaced at the thought of it.

Their break-up was an ugly one, and one he'd never forget. Alicia cried and cried and cried, while Josh stood awkwardly as he spoke the words he never wanted to. After it was all said and done, the next day Alicia looked better than ever and the week after that she was going out on dates with all these different guys, and despite being the one to break it off with her...Josh felt hurt. It was a sharp pang in his chest, and one he knew he'd have to deal with if he ever broke it off with her.

Looking at her now made him smile for a moment.

He remembered fun Alicia. The Alicia who he forced to watch action movies with him even though she had no interest in it. At the end of the movie, she was begging of a sequel. _That_ was the Alicia he liked to keep in his memory. Not the Alicia who made out with three guys at the end-of-the-school-year summer bash a few months ago.

Truthfully, Josh was always scared she was going to cheat on him.

It was no question that Alicia Rivera was hot, and even more so to Josh she was beautiful. Though they weren't together anymore, he'd never stop thinking it. It wasn't even just a thought. It was fact. Alicia Rivera was a true Spanish beauty, or so that's what they'd call her. She had the body you couldn't miss and the face of an angel.

The entire time they dated from 8th grade to Spring of their sophomore year (Josh thinks the months is April), he always feared that Alicia was going to find someone better. There was always that thought in the back of his mind and it killed him that he even thought that way.

All in all, she was the perfect girlfriend to him. Only as the years went by did she get more bitchier, but despite that she was still great and Josh hadn't known what went wrong.

Yet all relationships go wrong at some point and people either fix it or they don't.

Sometimes, Josh finds himself wishing that he had fixed it instead of breaking up with her.

But, of course, he'd never let her know that.

 _1 year ago..._

"C'mon babe, can't you hurry up? I've got the game...and-"

"Shh," Alicia hushed her boyfriend. The pair held hands in the middle of the hallway and Alicia was anxious to buy her homecoming tickets. The theme was Hollywood, and Alicia had the perfect red dress.

All in all, the night was going to be perfect. Alicia could already feel that it was going to be _great_ and yet...it was still a whole month away.

Alicia frowned at the thought, but Josh was grimacing for a whole other reason. He had to practice right after school and Alicia was dragging him along with her as if he was nothing but a doll.

What was it with girls when it came to homecoming anyways? All girls got crazy when it came to finding dates. And don't even get Josh started on dress shopping...

The dark haired boy sighed at the thought of dress shopping with Alicia in the city. He didn't know why everybody loved New York City so much. Thing's were so much more calmer and cleaner in Westchester, yet here everybody was wishing that they lived in the city. Why? It was so busy and not private at all. Josh liked it and all, but to live in? Oh, fuck no. To even visit was a difficulty for him.

He bit him lip, staring down at his girlfriend's warm brown eyes.

If he won tonight, maybe then Alicia would sleep with him. It was an embarrassing confession really...

Alicia Rivera, one of the hottest girls in the school (actually _thee_ hottest girl in the school) hadn't slept with her own boyfriend yet. Was she nervous? Maybe. But, no matter how many times they hung out, Alicia and Josh just never did it. She always had an excuse and after a while he stopped trying.  
Josh Hotz, the guy who gave off the deception of getting laid every day...didn't. It sucked. It really, really, sucked...

"Babe," Alicia nudged her boyfriend's side.

"Huh?" Josh blinked down at her.

"Babe. Aren't you listening to anything I'm saying?" Alicia's lips formed a tight line. Her brows burrowed together in a knit of confusion and annoyance. Shit, Alicia was mad again. Josh inwardly groaned. These days she always seemed mad.

"Uh...yeah?"

"Then what did I say?" Alicia raised a suspicious brow.

"I-I...shit. I have no idea," Josh gave up after trying to find the right words. _I wish you'd stop talking._

"I was talking about what color red we were wearing."

What color red...was she serious? Oh, fuck.

"...what?"

"For fuck's sake Josh did you not hear a thing I said?" Alicia let go of Josh's hand and crossed her arms. People began to stare, and that was the last thing he needed. What was it with Westchester teens? Couldn't they mind their own business for once? Apparently not.

"You said something about red." _And it was ridiculous._

"Yes. Finally! I got something out of you," Alicia laughed then intertwined their fingers again. _Bipolar much. Is she on her period?_ Maybe it was best if Josh _didn't_ ask Alicia that.

"I just didn't understand the question," Josh pointed out. They moved up in the line. Only a few more kids until they got their tickets, and Josh couldn't wait. As soon as they paid, he was running out the door.

"It's not that hard. What kind of red are we wearing for homecoming?"

"Shit Leesh I don't know. Aren't they all the same?"

"Obviously not," Alicia glared up at him. She pouted. Had anyone ever told her how hot she was when she was mad? Maybe he should tell her, so that was she could get out of her shitty mood and he could make it to practice.

"Well, I pick the original red."

"Excuse me?"

"Fuck Alicia, I don't know. Red is red. I don't get what you want me to say."

"I want you to tell me what type-"

"I don't care about a type."

"Well you _should_."

"Well you _shouldn't_."

Another voice chimed in. "Trouble in paradise?" It was Kemp, and he was two people behind them in the line.

" _Shut up Kemp,_ " they both snapped.

"I seriously don't get what's so hard about this Josh," Alicia angrily whispered.

Finally, it was their turn in line and once Alicia paid for the tickets, she had asked the girl selling them (some poor freshman) if there was a difference in reds.

"Oh for fucks sake Alicia I'm late for practice, we're holding up the line, and you're being ridiculous," Josh groaned. Behind him, he hear Kemp snickering at their conversation.

"Oh please Josh, I'm so done with you and soccer. You act like it's your entire life."

"Well it is a big part of it. Or have you not noticed? I mean, I know your heads shoved so far up your ass that you don't see anything else-"

"Fuck you!"

"I wish you did!"

Once the words left his mouth, he immediately regretted it. Why was he such an idiot? Fuck, fuck, fuck. He was the biggest idiot of them all. For the "smartest" out of his friend group, Josh could sure be an idiot.

Alicia's eyes flashed with a look of hurt. She frowned, and Josh reached out for her but the Latina quickly moved out of the way. The poor freshman girl selling the tickets looked like she was about to have a heart attack and the few people behind them were making it not-so-obvious that they were listening to the couple fight.

For once, Kemp had stopped laughing.

"Alicia..."

"I'll see you tonight," Alicia said in a stiff tone before turning away and walking out the door.

That night Alicia Rivera lost her virginity to Josh Hotz after a victory party for the varsity soccer team. The same was said for Josh. Yet, the night he had dreamed of for years had come short of everything he had ever imagined. He was a drunken slobbery mess, and Alicia was upset yet compliant due to the harsh words he had spoken earlier that day.

That was the beginning of their end.

Josh would always remember it, and always regret it.

* * *

 _Massie_

"GOAAALLLLLLL!"

The crowd cheered as one of Valmon'ts forwards (Massie thinks it's some guy whose name sounds too much like Dawson's) kicked a ball into the net of the opposing team. All around them, colors of black and red rose and cheered for their team. It was a great difference to the burgundy red and navy blue that Massie was accustomed to seeing on nice fall nights like this.

She huddled closer to Dylan and Alicia who were both sitting silently next to her, although Alicia kept tapping her leg of tittering about.

Massie didn't know why she was so nervous...

Landon Crane was just another rich boy, or so he was to Massie. She didn't see what Alicia saw in his blonde hair and bright ocean blue eyes. He was nice to look at, sure...but Landon Crane wasn't anything special. He was another kid lucky to be born into the right family. Massie supposed they all were.

Biting her lip, Massie decided to pretend like she wanted to be there. Honestly, it was a dumb idea and she had to take credit for it considering the fact that the idea was all hers.

Why Valmont? They were enemies, and truthfully the game was so boring. She didn't get the same feel she had whenever she attended a game back home at Westchester. Though girls like Massie could pretend all they want that they didn't know shit about sports, Massie had to admit that even she had a great interest in soccer. It was so fast paced and the rules were simple enough to understand.

Though one thing she could never understand was why a bunch of guys lined up and jumped whenever another guy from the other team would kick the ball. This didn't even happen all the time...

Ugh.

That was one thing Derrick had never taught her about soccer, and now obviously they weren't in speaking terms so he could probably never be able to teach her the whole reasoning behind it.

Even so, Massie didn't really care to learn it. If the team she was rooting for won, then she was good and so far it looked like Valmont was winning. She clapped like any respectable person but it just didn't feel right.

Next time she'd definitely skip out of Valmont Valley games and start coming to Westchester games more even though she had to see their tyrant of a captain and stupid Dawson Jenkins.. No matter how much she wanted to hate him though, she just couldn't.

What was there to hate about him? That was just the thing...there was nothing. Dawson was too good to her. Massie didn't deserve that. They were better off not speaking.

"GOOOALLLL! THEY'VE DONE IT AGAIN! VALMONT VALLEY'S VERY OWN DALTON HENDRICKSON HAS DONE IT AGAIN FOLKS! YOU JUST SAW IT! HERE WE GOOOOOOO BLACK HAWKS!"

Again? Massie clapped and smiled at the crowd cheering wildly. She'd imagine that the same was going on at the Westchester game.

She frowned. If only she were there now. Massie felt so out of place, and from the looks of it all of the other girls did too. Even Alicia looked out of place in her heeled booties and long sheer red scarf.

"Wow they're real good," Massie exclaimed.

"Dalton's one of their best," Kristen commented, nodding at the scene in front of her as if she were a spectator. "That's what Dempsey says at least."

Alicia perked up at the mention of Kristen's boyfriend's name. "Speaking of Dempsey, did he mention anything about an after party? I really wanted to go..."

Kristen bit her lip, hesitant. "W-well he did mention it."

"Can we go!?" Alicia gave Kristen her best puppy-dog look. "Oh please Kris. It's at Landon's house. Pleeeasseee."

"Fine," Kristen groaned, caving in. "Only because I promised Dempsey I'd go."

"Sure, sure," Alicia winked. Massie rolled her eyes and stared back at the game. From her seat, she could see Landon Crane and Dempsey along with more of their team-members huddling around. They were probably discussing their next move, yet Massie didn't see the need. They were an hour into the game and the score was in favor of Valmont by _a lot_.

Suddenly, Massie found herself wishing more than anything she were watching the Westchester boys. Valmont was good, yeah, but Westchester was so much better. She had to even give Derrick that. He was an amazing captain. Harsh, yes, but he was damn good and everybody knew it.

"Let's go Valmont!" Alicia cheered along with the crowd of Valmont Valley supporters around them. Massie rolled her eyes.

"Go Westchester," she muttered under her breath, hoping that the game would end soon.

Another hour and a half, and Valmont had won (obviously) and to be quite honest, all Massie wanted to do was take bubble bath, have scented candles all around her as she read Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina.'

If anybody had told Massie that, they'd just laugh.

Massie Block reading? It was an interesting notion, true. Nobody could see the pretty committee alpha committing her time into reading a book, especially one that was famous in the literary world, but truthfully Massie had become fond of reading a year ago. She had found a great interest in it one night, and then after that she could never be without a book to read.

"He's going to be in such a great mood tonight," Alicia beamed. The Latina had stood up, making her way down to the field to congratulate her newest boy toy.

"I'll be in a great mood if we leave," Dylan muttered under her breath, though Massie heard every word she said.

"Same here," spoke the pretty committee alpha. "Wanna head out of here?"

"Please."

Kristen heard their conversation, and frowned. "You guys can't just leave. There's an after party."

"Party and you? Didn't think those two meshed well together," Massie mused.

"Shut up Mass," Kristen laughed. "But seriously, I thought you guys were coming."

"I'm feeling a bit sick. I think it's all this cold. Dylan and I will just go, you and Alicia have fun," Massie offered an encouraging smile. She knew that Kristen wasn't the biggest party-goer, and if she did manage to attend parties then she liked it if all of the girls were together. Even so, all Massie wanted to do was go home, and by the looks of it the same could be said for Dylan.

"Well alright," Kristen didn't sound too happy about it, yet the blonde didn't have much of a choice.

"Let's go," Massie turned to Dylan, whose cheeks and nose were almost the same color of red as her hair. "I'll call Issac."

The girls went off, saying their goodbyes to Alicia who they passed by as they left. The dark haired girl didn't even seem to notice her other friends leave however, she was too distracted with Landon Crane, who did look very surprised to see her and very happy as well.

"Hi Issac," Massie greeted the older gentleman as she got into the black Range Rover. Issac greeted both girls with a warm smile. Wrapped around his neck was a knit black scarf, one that Massie was pleased to find as the scarf she had gotten him last Christmas.

"It's definitely getting cold out miss Massie," Issac exclaimed. "I'm glad you dressed for the weather." He gave her a knowing stare.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I always dress weather appropriate," a lazy smile donned her lips. Issac was always joking around about something.

"How was the game girls?"

"Fine," Massie answered.

"Boring," Dylan sighed. She glanced out the window, not even bothering to speak to Massie. What was with her? She had been in such a bad mood for over a week now. Massie decided not to think about it too much. Dylan had her own drama to deal with, and quite frankly Massie didn't feel like talking about it. She had enough drama in her life.

"So what dress are you thinking about getting for homecoming?" Massie questioned the other girl at an attempt to make conversation. It was weird feeling so awkward around Dylan. They were the best of friends. She shouldn't have to feel awkward...

"No idea. Maybe a huge plastic sack to cover up my fat."

Ouch.

"Dylan shut up. You're not fat."

"Easy for you to say," Dylan basically sneered at her.

"Look I don't know what's bothering you so much, but don't take it out on me," Massie said, defensive.

Dylan looked as if she were about to apologize, yet she didn't and the car ride was silent for a majority of the trip until a beeping sound came from Massie's phone.

Looking at the screen, she saw it was the Dawson and her heart felt as if it were going to fall out of her stomach. Why was Dawson texting her? They had their little talk over a week ago, and since then they had been completely silent to each other despite the fact that they had agreed on being friends.

Confused, she opened the text.

 **Can you come to the field? Need 2 talk.**

Massie pursed her lips, not knowing what to say. Another talk? Well it couldn't hurt..

 **Meet u in 5.**

His response was nothing more than two letters: **Ok.**

Without even realizing it they had reached the front gates to the Marvil home and Dylan had already unfastened her seat belt.

"See ya," said the red head in a rushed tone. She quickly got out of the car before Massie could even say goodbye.

"Issac?"

"Yes?" the older gentleman said back as he pulled out of the Marvil's drive way.

"There's something I need to do at the field."

"Did you leave something?" he glanced back at her.

"No. I...um, t-there's just something I need to do."

"Alright then."

"It's at the home field too...not at Valmont."

"Of course miss," he gave her a comforting smile.

When Issac pulled into the Field, a bunch of people had already left and the parking lot was basically empty with the exception of a few cars that Massie was led to believe belonged to the team coaches and players that could drive.

The lights were still shining brightly of the field, and streams of red and blue loitered on the ground, creating an ambiance of festivity. Massie _could_ guess that they won, but she didn't have to. She knew it. Everybody knew it. Westchester always won. The only game Massie was sure they had lost (at least the only game they had lost that she could remember) was last year at the championship game. She could still remember the look of utter disappointment in the boys' eyes. That night she comforted an almost crying Derrick in her room as they watched a movie of his choosing (it was _Inglorious Basterds_ ), though he didn't talk to her much after that. He had been silent, yet she had been there by his side.

Massie supposed if they lost again she wouldn't be his rock and his only comfort would be some girl in his bed whose name he wouldn't bother to remember the next day.

Sighing, Massie got out of the car and watched Issac drive away.

It was then Dawson appeared, clad in his uniform still with his cleats on and everything. The only thing covering him from the cold was a loose gray jacket. How did he not change from his shorts? He must be freezing.

Massie frowned slightly. Derrick used to always wear shorts in 7th grade. Rain or snow...

"You made it," the other boy grinned. It was so weird to have him smiling at her. They hadn't spoken for a week and yet here they were as if nothing had ever occurred between them. Truthfully, Massie wished nothing ever did. That way she wouldn't be disappointed.

"Here I am," Massie smiled sheepishly.

He eyed her outfit curiously, and Massie mentally slapped herself for still wearing the Valmont colors of red and black. To be fair, she only had a black jacket on and a stripped black and red scard with a red large knit headband that covered her ears. If it weren't their rival colors, Massie would have prided herself in her outfit. Personally, she thought she looked cute.

"Better make sure the other boys don't see you," Dawson motioned to the pit where a few soccer players started making their way out, smiles on all of their faces.

"Good point. I don't need to give Derrick another reason to hate me," Massie blushed.

"He doesn't hate you," Dawson objected.

"You don't have to lie for him," Massie laughed breathlessly. "It's pretty obvious that Derrick hates me. I mean, everybody sees it."

"Well... _I_ don't hate you," Dawson's face was almost just as red as hers. In the cold air, all you could see between them was the breathy frost coming out of their lips. If this were one of the comedy-romance movies Massie always liked to watch, this would be her favorite scene.

The guy and the girl in the cold autumn air, after his winning game. Then they'd kiss...but there would be no kissing between herself and Dawson tonight. They had long outgrown that, yet they had only known each other for a week.

A long time ago, Massie would have seen this scene in her head with another boy as her leading man.

It would be Derrick. After all, it had _always been_ Derrick. But it wasn't warm brown eyes staring into hers now. Instead, they were a forest green and Massie had never imagined green to look so good.

"Wanna get out of here?" Dawson inclined his head to a car parked not so far from them. It was a silver Volvo.

"Sure," she spoke in a small voice. For a second there, she had hardly heard herself speak.

The two made their way to Dawson's car, and he opened the door for her before she could reach the handle, earning a blush from the PC alpha herself.

Behind her, she didn't even notice Derrick watching with those warm brown eyes she had once adored so much.

xxx

(11:45p.m.)

Massie sat with her hands folded in her lap, staring out the window into the night sky. It was a beautiful sight really, and she had been fond of it but Massie knew she'd be even more fond of it in the comfort of her home where her bed and Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' awaited her.

Damn Dawson.

The boy in question was looking quite pleased with himself. He was all smiles and random questions.

The pair had only been sitting in his Volvo in some parking lot overlooking most of Westchester, which was fascinating (where did Dawson find all of these spots?), for ten minutes and Massie was already bored out of her mind.

Had Dawson always been this boring?

No, of course not. Dawson was endlessly fascinating yet the situation they were in was very, very awkward and there was no little jokes that he could tell that could easily cut the tension in the room.

"So," he gave her an easy smile. "What's your favorite color."

"Brown," she answered almost immediately. Brown? Who said brown? Brown was so stupid.

"Brown?" Dawsom mused. "Well that's certainly a new one..."

"I-I don't know why I said that," Massie confessed, blushing. _Yes you do_ , she thought silently but almost immediately pushed those thoughts to the back of her head.

"It's okay," Dawson laughed. "I like orange."

"Orange?" Massie scoffed. "Who likes orange?"

"Hey, hey now don't hate on orange. It's a nice and innocent color."

"Orange is so lame."

It was silent for a second. "...whatever you say Brown."

The two laughed, and despite her previous thoughts, it turned out Dawson did in-fact cut the tension in the car. Even so, that didn't solve the fact that he had asked her to meet him for a "talk." So when was this talk happening anyways?

"Sooo," he began.

"So?"

He sighed, and gripped the steering wheel. For a second there Massie almost thought he was going to drive them off the cliff. Now that would be a plot twist.

"You probably wanna know why I asked you here."

"Nope. Haven't really thought of it heh." _Yes. I do._ She had started playing with the ends of her hair now in hopes of a distraction from his prying eyes.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that I wasn't trying to be weird when I kissed you. I-It was so out of line, I get it-"

"Dawson, look-"

"No, please don't interrupt." She made the mistake of looking up into his forest green eyes and was greeting by his still ever-so-pleasant smile. What was with this kid? He was too good to be true. Nobody was this perfect. Maybe this was a dream? Massie pinched herself. No, it wasn't a dream.

Shit.

"Massie, I like you. I do. You're a great girl and anybody would be lucky to have you," he gave her a knowing look. Was he talking about Derrick? Massie inwardly groaned. Why was Derrick still being brought up in the conversation? Stupid Derrick. "I think you're amazing, cool, and beautiful... _obviously_. But I-I took things out of line by kissing you the first day I met you. Even so, I wanna be friends. Really I do. Things have been so tense between us for a whole week and I don't like that. You're a great person and I don't wanna loose you, even though I haven't known you for so long."

He paused, looking into her eyes. She blushed even more, if that were possible that is.

"You do know I have a reputation for being a bitch," suddenly came out of her mouth. Shit. She hadn't meant for that to come out. Massie wasn't even aware that she was thinking it.

He smirked. "Oh, I know."

"I'm not cool. I'm uptight."

"That's okay."

"And I'm definitely not-"

"Don't you dare say you're not beautiful," he glared.

Massie blushed, and he took her hand.

"So let's go slow yeah?"

For once, Massie didn't mind slow paced. Maybe it was a good thing. What did they say again? Slow and steady wins the race. Hopefully, slow and steady would win Massie and Dawson.

"Slow," Massie agreed, fighting the urge to kiss him.

"Great."

Before anything else could be said, Massie's ringer went off.

"S-sorry," she muttered, digging into her purse for her tiny silver iphone. Upon finding it, she picked up right away and not even bothering to check who had called.

"Hello?" Massie spoke hurriedly. _Bad timing,_ Massie wanted to say.

"Mass, I need help. It's Alicia. Come quick," spoke the voice of Kristen Greggory, and for once it wasn't calm. In fact, it was a bit panicked.

* * *

 _Kristen_

(11:20p.m.)

Usually, Kristen was the smart one. But tonight she had been drinking heavily and tonight Dempsey looked better than he ever did before.

He had been drinking far more than she had, and had a Valmont Valley soccer sweater wrapped around his hips with his shirt off. Right now, he was busy helping out a friend who was doing a keg stand, and that itself didn't work out too well.

The friend ended up falling to the ground and threw up on Dempsey's shoes.

"Babe," Dempsey stumbled towards her. Kristen pushed him away and glared down at his shoes.

"That is _so_ gross," Kristen covered her nose. It smelled like fish too...

Right then, Kristen felt she herself was about to throw up too.

"I have to change," Dempsey laughed wildly. Oh yeah, he was so drunk. Usually, Dempsey was the clean freak yet now he had throw up on his shoe and wasn't bothering to even fix it right away.

"You have an extra pair of shoes?" Kristen questioned.

"I left some in Landon's," he explained. Dempsey started swaying back and forth on the heels of his foot, stumbling towards his much smaller girlfriend. Kristen leaned his body against her and basically carried him up the stairs, frustrated by his stinky fish throw-up shoe and the fact that she was missing the party because of it.

She had been making friends with some Valmont girls, who played soccer too. Surprisingly to Kristen, she had been getting along with them. One was named Kristy and in her grade, the other Cathy and was also in her grade, and the other was a senior named Rebecca who resembled Gwen, the Westchester girls' varsity soccer captain. Speaking of Gwen, it was best if Kristen didn't mention this little encounter and how much she surprisingly enjoyed it.

Dempsey had finally found his way to Landon's room after searching the upper floor for basically three minutes now. They had walked in to a girl throwing up in the bathroom and a couple having sex in what looked like an office.

Weird..

But what really shocked Kristen was the sight that greeted her at Landon Crane's bedroom. On the king sized bed was a shirtless Landon. Well actually, he was completely naked. Underneath him was the also naked body of Alicia Rivera.

"Alicia!?" Kristen gasped. Ew, ew, ew. Though they were bestfriends, Kristen didn't ever want to see any of her friends having sex.

"Kris?" Alicia gasped, pushing Landon off her.

Now Kristen _really_ felt like she was going to yak.

Then suddenly, she did. Wait, no she didn't. It was Alicia and it was all over Landon's duvet.

"What the fuck man!" Landon yelled, jumping off his bed.

Alicia wasn't stopping, or so it looked like she wasn't any time soon.

"What are you going to do?" Kristen asked Landon frantically. Dempsey leaned against the door and began laughing like a maniac.

"Ew," he laughed, throwing his head back. Why wasn't he helping? This was one of his girlfriend's best friends. Shouldn't he care!? "This chick's wasted."

"That _chick_ happens to be my best friend," Kristen growled and pushed past Dempsey until she was fully in the bed room.

Despite the puke, Alicia carefully lifted Alicia until the Latina was in her arms. She at on the bed and made a mental note to burn her clothes after she got home. It was a shame, she had really loved these jeans...

"Landon what are you going to do?" she looked up desperately at the blonde boy whose only response was a shrug and a lighting of a cigarette.

"Dunno. Don't care. Just get her out? Seriously, she needs to leave."

"That's it!?" Kristen didn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. Right now, she didn't care that he was completely naked and so was her best friend with the exception of her skirt hanging loosely around her waist.

"Yeah. I'll clean up in the morning, you should be happy I'm not having _her_ clean it up," he looked down at Alicia with disgust.

If she hadn't been holding Alicia, Kristen would've punched Landon right in the face. Really, she wished that she could. In fact, she wanted what happened to Dempsey at the Block's barbecue to happen to Landon but even worse if that was possible. Derrick had dislocated Dempsey's jaw. Kristen only wished the soccer captain were here now to do the same to Landon, who actually deserved it..

"Fuck you," Kristen spat at him.

"Whatever baby," he laughed lazily, pulling jeans up his legs. "C'mon Demps, we've got a party downstairs," he spoke to a still laughing Dempsey.

"Alright," her boyfriend rocked back and forth until he had stood up properly. It seemed he had forgotten all about his dirty shoes. Good. For once, Kristen was happy and for once she thought Dempsey was a pig and much unlike how she had seen him just ten minutes prior.

"Dempsey aren't you going to help me!" Kristen exclaimed, shaking the slumped body of Alicia in her arms. This only made the Latina throw up even more. Fortunately for Kristen, it wasn't on her shoes or anywhere on her.

"Maybe l-lat-t-ter," Dempsey laughed again and was pushed out the door by Landon who was finally fully dressed.

"Asshole," Kristen muttered under her breath.

Taking out her phone with her free hand, Kristen dialed Dylan's number.

As expected, it went straight to voice mail? Maybe call Claire? No, the other girl was sick and was probably asleep right about now. Even so, what was Claire Lyons going to do in a situation like this?

She dialed the other PC member's number and waited for her to answer.

"Pick up Massie please pick up," Kristen said to herself.

Alicia threw her head back and threw up once again. How many times was this now? Her eyes were closed yet she kept thrashing around on the bed after moving away from Kristen's arms.

"Hello?" the alpha's voice spoke. Kristen had never heard anything more sweeter.

"Mass, I need help. It's Alicia. Come quick," Kristen spoke so fast she had barely understood a word she said.

Just then Alicia's head hung on the edge of the bed, and her throw-up landed on Kristen's lap. Suddenly, the thought of throw-up on her shoe didn't seem too bad...

* * *

 _Alicia_

(the next morning)

The first thing that greeted Alicia Rivera that Saturday morning was the bright sunlight. The second, was her throwing up (once again) on the floor of a room that wasn't hers.

Opening her eyes slightly, all she could see was white. Why was the room so bright? Was she dead? No, of course not. Alicia imagined that heaven would feel a lot better than this, although the bed she was in was definitely comfortable.

Leaning to her side, and groaning while doing so, Alicia found herself face to face of a picture containing all five pretty committee members on a bedside table. It was a picture Massie was very familiar with. The time, beginning of freshman year. It was still the summertime and all five girls were smiling.

Suddenly, Alicia knew exactly where she was at and suddenly her stomach couldn't help itself but barfing up whatever toxic shit was in her from last night.

Oh, Massie was going to kill her.

"Fuck," Alicia moaned, clutching her stomach. Her head was pounding and her heart felt like it was beating 10x faster than it should.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck_ ," Alicia cried. "What happened?" she asked herself.

"You were shit faced last night, that's what happened," another voice answered for her. It was Kristen and she was dressed in a large Harvard University sweater.

"Kristen? W-what are you doing here?"

"Slept over," the blonde leaned herself against the doorway into Massie's room. Her hair looked messy, but it was the cute kind of messy that most girls strived for.

"Where's Massie? Where are her parents?"

"Massie's downstairs and they're out of town."

Alicia groaned once more and clutched her head. "It hurts."

"Obviously."

Kristen walked over and handed Alicia a glass of water and Advil. Had she always had those with her? Weird.

"Here, this will help," Kristen offered.

"Thank you," Alicia sat up, though with much difficulty.

Kristen was silent, looking as if she were contemplating something. "Leesh? D-do you remember anything from last night?"

Alicia tried searching her mind but nothing came. "N-no," she shuddered. It scared her. "All I can remember was that Valmont won their game. Last thing that I know I was kissing Landon on the field a-and...that's it."

Kristen bit her lip, looking a bit anxious.

"W-what? What is it?" Alicia felt almost panicked. "Did something happen?"

"Alicia...you and Landon fucked last night. Do you remember that? You threw up all over his bed."

"Oh my gosh! No, no, no," Alicia put her head in her hands. "Landon is going to hate me."

"Do you not remember what he did?" Kristen frowned. "Alicia, he kicked you out."

"He wouldn't do that," the Latina denied.

" _Yes_ , he would. And he did."

"I don't believe you," Alicia said stubbornly. "It's not true, Landon wouldn't do that."

"You've only known him for two weeks!" Kristen argued.

"I don't care!" Alicia yelled.

"What's going on here?" Massie appeared out of no where, peering curiously into her room. At the sight of Alicia's puke, the girl gagged, almost barfing herself. "Omg Leesh, that's so gross."

"Ugh," Alicia moaned, feeling herself about to throw up again. Kristen pushed a garbage can to her, yet it didn't help and this time the puke was all over Massie's bed.

xxx

If hangovers weren't bad enough, Alicia had dance lessons that day that she couldn't afford to miss.

Groaning, she stepped into the beat of the music and attempted to make it look as if she felt like dancing that day. But she couldn't do that. All she wanted to do was throw up and once this was over she was going to the bathroom, probably spending at least ten minutes in there, then going to her private and going _straight home_.

Drinking wasn't fun. Well...that was lie. It _was_ fun but what wasn't was being hungover, and what was worst was not knowing what had happened last night. Apparently, the great vine (Massie and Kristen) said that she had slept with Landon Crane.

Did she remember?

Oh, of course not. But that didn't matter. She slept with him, so they had to be a thing right? Clearly, he cared about her. I mean...he _should_ care about her.

Alicia frowned. Her toes pointed in her ballet slippers, she tried her best to look light on her feet but kept stumbling anyways.

The Body Alive Dance studio staff made their annoyance with her as clear as the liquor she had drank last night. Her teacher, some blonde with a thick Southern accent, let her frustrations known.

"Oh no, Alicia. Honey girl, that is naht right. Dya' not know h'tta dance? Girlie, you ain't running as well as yah always do," Ms. Wilkie frowned. For a dance teacher, Alicia mentally commented on her weight. That was rude of her, she knew, but it was true. Though she was no Abby Lee Miller, Ms. Wilkie was still a bigger girl, though that wasn't much a problem. She could dance, and she had no problem getting down as if she were at a rodeo.

Wincing at the thought, Alicia had no doubt that she probably did attend rodeos at a daily..

 _Ew._

"Are ya gon' do it right now girlie cow?" Ms. Wilkies pursed her fat pink lips. Alicia frowned. If she ever called her a cow again...

"Yes," Alicia answered. "I'm ready."

Maintaining her balance, Alicia tried at the steps again.

One, two, three, four, five-and-six...

Stumbling once more, she groaned out in frustration. Why. Was. It. So. Hard?

Had drinking really caused all of this? She had thought her hungover state would end that morning at the Block Estate, yet it had carried on for most of the afternoon and now well late into the night. The thought of bed had never seemed so sweet..

"You're killing me girlie cow!" her teacher let out a frustrated screech, which Alicia welcomed. The Latina didn't care how much she cried out or corrected her. She just wanted to go home.

"Please do it right boo," Ms. Wilkies started the music again.

Alicia steadied herself, but before any progress (or non-progress) could be made, in came Skye Hamilton to disrupt her class.

"Oh, yall killin' me," Ms. Wilkies mumbled until she had a seat on one of the many benches in the room.

Skye wore pink yoga pants and black sports bra. Her hair was up and tied in a pink scrunchie. The DSL Daters alpha wore a sly smile on her face as her eyes scanned the room and came directly into contact with Alicia's.

The Latina felt sick instantly. Maybe it was Skye's evil powers... Alicia laughed to herself at the though. Skye a witch? Well, it wasn't that hard to believe. Skye Hamilton was a real bitch and if there ever ended up being a monster inside her that was living under a teenage girls' skin, well...Alicia wouldn't be all that surprsied.

Skye made Massie look like a little lost puppy dog.

"Leesh!" Skye came up to her and kissed both her cheeks like Alicia always saw in those French movies.

"Hi?" was Alicia's response.

"So, a little birdie told me that you had a little too much to drink at Landon Crane's last night," Skye winked. Around them, the girls in the class was tittered off to their respective spots in the room. Most just went over their dance steps in the mirrors and other stretched on the bars. No word was heard from their teacher, who was currently sipping her lemonade as if it were the only thing keeping her alive.

Alicia raised a skeptical brow. "So?"

"Sooo, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Sure you do," Alicia's tone was harsh.

Skye instantly dropped her act. The senior alpha's faux grin turned into a scowl and her eyes narrowed. "Listen to me close. I get that you're trying to get back at me for getting with Josh by getting with my ex, but it's not working sweetie so I suggest you back off."

The corners of Alicia's lips turned up into a smirk. So this was what it was all about? A boy? Alicia could almost laugh in irony. "Oh please Skye. As if I needed to make _you_ jealous with another guy? That's not my way. I've already won," Alicia's expression was that of someone who had just won. Won what exactly? Alicia wasn't so sure, but she didn't care. As long as she was above Skye, it didn't matter. Victory against Skye was a sweet victory, no matter what shape in came in.

"Really? How so?" Skye pursed her lips.

"Everybody knows I'm the hottest girl at Westchester. You're just jealous because you'll never be on my level, even if you are already a senior and head alpha at Westchester." Alicia laughed wildly just then, causing Skye to look at her as if the girl was crazy. "Scratch that. You're not even the head alpha. Everybody knows that's Massie."

Skye looked livid. Her eyes were dark and her lips were curved in a downward frown.

"You think you've won don't you?" Skye hissed. "Well listen close. While you dated Josh last year, I slept with him. I _fucked_ your _fucking boyfriend_ before he even had you." Skye reveled in the horrific look on Alicia's face. "How does that make you feel?" Another smirk from Skye, and suddenly the tables were turned. Alicia was frowning. No, Alicia looked as if she were going to cry-and truthfully, she was.

"Fuck you," was all that came out of the Latina's mouth.

"Don't cry Leesh. I mean, you already had Landon right? I screw Josh and now you've fucked Landon. We're even now right?" Skye hugged her tightly despite Alicia's rigid posture. This earned the girl's odd looks from the other dancers in the room. Putting her lips close to Alicia's ear, Skye whispered, "Don't think to mess with me unless you want those pictures getting out."

Alicia's eyes widened as Skye pulled away and turned from the PC beta.

Suddenly, she remembered and just like that she hunched over on the floor and threw up for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

xxx

 _1 year ago..._

A far too happy Josh Hotz sat next to her the following Monday after the weekend they had made love.

Finally, it had happened.

Had it happened the way Alicia had pictured it? Honestly, no. But that didn't matter. Now she knew more than ever that she was in love with Josh Hotz and now she knew that he loved her too.

He was in love with her. Josh had said it himself the night they finally had sex. After it was over, Alicia felt odd and a bit sad because she was pressured to do it but then the following morning when she woke up, she was filled with this sense of pride.

Josh Hotz, one of the hottest guys at school was really in love with her and she loved him back. This was the picture perfect romance. This was the relationship that Massie Block and Derrick Harrington had failed to have, though everybody rooted for them. Alicia grinned at that fact. Massie never had _this_. She finally had something that Massie didn't, and though the PC alpha was her best friend, Alicia was tired of being second best. Massie and Derrick had never said "I love you," and Alicia did with Josh. She was the champion. Finally, she had won something and this trophy wasn't some designer coat or a party invitation. The trophy was her boyfriend loving her, something that only Claire had accomplished yet for Alicia it felt and looked so much better.

Was it selfish? Perhaps. But Alicia didn't care. Josh was in love with her and that was all that mattered.

It was Alicia and Josh. Everything else is just background noise..

"Good morning beautiful," Josh Hotz kissed her cheek upon walking into school that day and finding the Latina seated on a bench by his locker.

"You're in a good mood," Alicia acknoledged.

"And why wouldn't I be? I have the prettiest girl in Westchester as my girlfriend?"

She blushed, forcing herself to look down at her heels. Josh always had a good way with words...

"I have a surprise for you," he reached into the pocket of his jacket.

Alicia grinned, awaiting her surprise.

Out of his pocket were two ties. One was a crimson, bloody red. The other was a rosy red. It was romantic.

Alicia was confused at the meaning behind them.

"W-what is this?"

"You asked what color red for homecoming. So I've decided for us," Josh announced with a proud smile on his face.

Though a small gesture, it touched Alicia's heart. "I can't believe you did this," she smiled.

"Well believe it."

"Josh, this is so sweet. I-it shows you care, a-and.."

She was interrupted with his lips on hers. At pulling away, Josh said, "Oh, shut up and pick a color."

"I like this one," Alicia grabbed the rosy red tie. She ran her fingers across it, feeling the fabric. It was so _silky_.

"That one it is then," Josh agreed upon placing another kiss on her lips.

"You're perfect," Alicia sighed happily into his lips.

"And so are you."

xxx

For that moment, she had believed him. But that moment would not last, as well with other moments until the pair broke up around Spring of their sophomore year.

Now, Alicia was livid.

Josh Hotz had slept with Skye Hamilton while he said he had loved her.

He said, " _I love you_."

Tears spilled down Alicia cheeks as she stared at her reflection on the bathroom mirror. Thankfully, classes were still in session and no dancers were coming out to use the restroom. The thought of Josh fucking Skye was repulsive. He had slept with her before Alicia, who was his girlfriend. How could he?

After the sadness, there was rage.

Who did Josh think he was? He was dating one of the most hottest girls in school and he choose Skye? Skye was an alpha, sure, but she was plain in comparison to Alicia and it made her blood boil that Josh could even choose that _pale cow_ over her.

" _I love you."_

" _I love you Leesh."_

" _Alicia, I love you.."_

Realization struck her as she stared into the mirror. Josh said I love you and lied. Alicia said I love you, and _she still did_.

After all this time, she still did.

* * *

 **So now that I'm reading this idk why I made Alicia throw up so much lol, but it fits so you better be feeling it. Other than that, sorry for the total lack of Claire, and come to think of it Cam. I have a great lil' plot/story line/whatever you want to call it for them so don't you worry ;)**

 **As always, review and I love all of you guys that do 3**


	7. A Tale of Two Alphas

**Wow it's been a while.**

 **More like a few months, so in that case I apologize. My intention was never to abandon this story and it still isn't. Truthfully, I've just been caught up with school. It's been hard and finals week is coming up so that's still pretty stressful.**

 **It's crazy to think this chapter has been on hiatus for so many months but it's finally here haha.**

 **Please don't kill me, enjoy.**

 **PS. Praying there are no errors and sorry if the writings shitty. Despite the long months of waiting I've been rushing to get this out just because I left you all chapterless for so long.**

* * *

Chapter 7

A Tale of Two Alphas

(12:10p.m. -Monday)

"Where. Is. She."

Massie Block was frantic.

Students came rushing into the cafeteria, all happy faces and hungry stomachs. Though she too was starving, Massie didn't have time to ease her growling stomach. If she didn't stop what was about to happen her best friend was going to be the talk of the school, and the last thing the pretty committee needed was even more drama to add on to their exceeding amount of it.

Why was it always them? Why couldn't Massie hear about another person's drama other than her own and that of her best friends? Speaking of that drama, why was the pretty committee still always linked to the Briarwood (in this case ex-Briarwood) boys' drama?

Massie bit her lip as she pushed past students to get into the cafeteria first. Didn't they know who she was? She was Massie fucking Block.

Right now however, they didn't care and Massie was only a second away from having a break down.

"Shit.."

Today had been horrible.

First, Asala Karman was a total psycho bitch. What was worst was that she was the psycho bitch editor-in-chief for the school news, and Massie's parents already told her that she couldn't drop out of the club now that she had agreed to it. Not only that, but she couldn't find it in her to break poor Mr. Alcibur's heart by telling her she quit the paper on her first day.

Second, Derrick. Derrick Harrington had made her life 10x more stressful and he didn't even know it yet.

Third, Dawson. Well Dawson wasn't really doing anything wrong but he was being so confusing with his feelings and the way he acted around her despite the fact that the two had agreed on being "just friends."

Now, there was this whole ordeal with Alicia and if Massie could stop one fight then she would at least have that tiny accomplishment in the day.

And if she didn't...

Well, Massie didn't want to think about _that_ outcome.

"Move," she growled to a little freshman boy which she immediately regretted once she had said it. Maybe she'd apologize later? Actually, no. She wouldn't and she knew it.

Running into the school's marble white cafeteria, Massie scanned the room for Alicia Rivera. The pretty committee's table was only occupied by Claire, who was still a bit sick yet felt better enough to come to school. Two tables away from them was the table of Derrick and his group, in which only Kemp Hurley and Chris Plovert sat, laughing about who knows what.

That was a good sign. The two people she had in mind were not yet seated so there was still time to stop them.

A body came to a halt where Massie stood, and she turned to look at Dylan.

"What are you doing?" the red head questioned. Massie was surprised that Dylan was even talking to her after her little outburst in the car on Friday. She hadn't spoken to Dylan all weekend. The only news she had heard of the red head was that Kristen had told her what had happened to Alicia at Landon Crane's party. The only time they spoke was just recently, an hour ago in the girl's bathroom.

"I-I'm looking for Leesh," Massie stuttered, not knowing exactly what she wanted to say. How was she supposed to explain it? Alicia is going to beat Josh up? Yeah, Dylan would react well to that. If anything she'd laugh.

"I just saw her leaving the bathroom. She looked pissed actually," Dylan said before walking away and joining Claire at their table.

"Oh fuck," Massie frowned. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

No answer from Dylan.

Walking a few paces to the coffee stand, Massie waited in line but still scanning the doors entering the cafeteria for Alicia.

Kids had come and gone from the room, yet no sign of Alicia. Massie bit her lip. Why was she even worrying about it? It wasn't her problem at all yet here she was trying to fix everything. Last time she remembered Massie wasn't "Mr. Fix-It." Since when was she the mother of the group? Sure, she was the alpha yet Kristen was always the most responsible one. Since Claire came, she was the nurturing one who always listened to everyone's problems. Massie was the alpha, not a fucking therapist. Yet here she was trying to make sure Alicia didn't break her fist. The girl didn't know what she was doing. She was fueled by anger. When Massie got the ominous, ' _he'll get what's coming to him_ ' text from her best friend last period, Massie already knew that "what was coming" was not good.

She also knew that she had to be talking about Josh. Who else would she be talking about? Landon? Massie only wished Alicia saw how bad he was for her. Unfortunately, Alicia was the only one for team Landon+Leesh. None of her friends her, and from what Massie heard neither was Landon.

What a dick..

"Massie?"

The alpha turned to see Asala Karman behind her with a curious smile on her lips. Asala had dark hair with purple tips and electric blue high-lights and very pointed features. Her makeup was dark and she wore tacky pink plastic glasses which made Massie doubt that they were even real.

"Oh, hi."

"Getting coffee huh? Nice," Asala tried her hardest to make conversation. Judging from their little "spat" earlier that morning, the scene was awkward for both girls.

"Yeah," Massie shifted her weight from one foot to another, awkward in her posture. It wasn't like Massie to be so...awkward. Yet, Asala ran the newspaper club and it was a total wake-up call for Massie to be around such educated people who didn't care if she was "Massie Block, Junior alpha." It was a good different, yet fighting with the senior paper leader wasn't a good thing, especially if it was on her first day.

"Listen, I'm sorry for earlier," Asala said. The senior girl looked very awkward herself. "I-I'm just not used to someone talking against me at the paper, heh. I mean, it's not _okay_ yet I appreciate you for speaking your mind."

Massie looked at her as if she weren't from the planet. "So...you do understand why I got upset earlier today? Right?"

"Oh, of course!" the other girl quickly nodded her head in agreement. Then what was the problem? "But you see Mass, can I call you Mass? Thanks." _No you can't,_ Massie thought to herself yet said nothing. "You see...that's what journalism is all about. It's about going out of your comfort zone and doing new things that you're not so used to. I know about your issues with him, that's why I wanted to challenge you. Mr. Alcibur recommended you and he spoke of you very highly, a-and I listen to him. So I want to see if you can really challenge yourself. I mean, if you can't...t-then the paper isn't for you. But if you can..." the girl grinned up at Massie. It was then that she noticed how short Asala was.

Truthfully, Massie didn't know what to say back. What could you say to that? Massie was at a loss for words, and that was when she realized that Alicia Rivera had zoomed past her right to where Derrick and his boys sat. Now, Josh Hotz was in attendance and eating his burger.

Fuck.

"Oh shit," Massie gasped. Fuck, fuck, _fuck_.

"Excuse me?"

Massie stared at Asala with wide, almost fearful eyes. "I'm sorry. I have to go. Talk to you tomorrow!"

She ran off as quickly as she could from the senior editor-in-chief and tried to reach Alicia before Alicia reached Josh.

But, she didn't...

A loud slap was heard from every corner of the room. Every student turned their heads to the center of the cafeteria where Alicia Rivera had slapped Josh Hotz with everything in her, and the dark haired boy winced in pain, grabbing his cheek and staring up at the Latina with nothing but pure shock in his eyes.

"FUCK YOU!" Alicia was crying now.

"W-w- _what_?" Josh gasped for breath. "What the _fuck_ is wrong with you!?"  
Massie watched the scene unfold from where she stood, just a few tables away from the fight she wanted to stop once she had found out about Alicia's rage.

"I can't believe you fucked that slut! You lied to me!" Alicia growled.

"What the hell!" Josh screamed back once he had gotten out of the shock of Alicia slapping him.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Alicia cried.

"No I don't!" Josh yelled back.

"Crazy bitch," Massie heard Kemp say.

The other PC girls were not standing from their table, watching the two fight along with the rest of the school.

"You slept with Skye! You screwed that cow! You fucked her while you were with me."

"I-" Alicia didn't give Josh a chance to speak. The Latina slapped him again, this time with less force as he sat back up in his seat.

"You're a piece of shit Josh Hotz and I never want to speak to you again. Go fuck yourself."

Alicia walked away, taking the storm of her rage away with her. She pushed past Massie, not even saying a word.

xxx

(Earlier that morning, 7:30 a.m.)

 _Massie_

Walking into room 302 on the third floor, Massie was feeling awful. Nervous wasn't something that Massie Block usually was, yet as of late she had been feeling that way a lot.

She bit her lip, hoping that her outfit looked good. Massie didn't know why she cared so much. Everybody wore the same uniform. Her white button down shirt was tucked into her skirt, which today she choose a plaid skirt that reminded her a lot of the movie _Clueless_. She wore black stockings and black flats, and her red uniform tie was almost choking her from how tight it was.

Asala Karman and Donnahue Boyd should be thankful from how hard she was trying for them.

Massie took a deep breath before opening the door.

"Welcome newbie!" a boy with jet black hair and glasses greeted her. He wore what every Westchester boy wore. It was the same uniform, red tie, black slacks, and dress shoes yet somehow it all looked baggy on him and he had on a deep moss green sweater. Massie didn't think he was cute, but at the same time he wasn't ugly in her mind. He had a crooked smile that matched his crooked teeth and his black hair was almost as messy as his rumbled uniform tee.

"Hi," Massie tried her best to look enthusiastic.

She had just realized that he had a large black camera around his neck, hanging by a strap. For a moment, she thought of Dawson.

"I'm Donnahue Boyd," the boy reached his hand out for her to shake. Massie gave him a firm handshake, or tried her hardest to do so.

He grinned. "Nice to meet you."  
"You too," Massie lied. Why did she ever agree to this?

"Asala! New meat is here," Donnahue called to a cubicle behind him. This gave Massie a chance to scan the rest of the room.

There were a bunch of desks all connected to one another. There was a computer at each desk and enough space for whoever sat in it to write or do paper work. Wide windows allowed natural sunlight to enter the room, which gave the room a very "70's" work area kinda feel. Massie felt as if she were in the office of 'The Daily Planet', the fictional newspaper company in _Superman_. A large printer decorated almost an entire corner of the room and bookshelves adorned the walls. There were papers stacked upon each other on the floor and a chalk board with what Massie believed to be a bunch of article ideas.

She read; **Lunch Lady Spats, Teacher Feature, Book of the Month, Movies You'll Love, Summer Stories, and Soccer Heroes.**

Massie pursed her lips in distaste at the last one.

"Hello," another voice greeted her, and Massie found herself staring at a dark haired girl with pink and purple highlights who looked as if she stepped right out of a mosh pit. Her unifrom skirt was plaid, much like Massie's but with crazy neon colors. On her feet were combat boots and black high knit socks. Her uniform button down was clean at least. If Massie were with the other girls they'd all laugh and score her bellow 3 on the imaginary "fashion" scale they always used to use when they were younger. Of course, that didn't really matter in school yet somehow Asala Karman had a way to _make_ it matter.

Hell, Donnahue Boyd was looking better than her.

"Hi," Massie greeted the senior editor-in-chief with a warm smile.

"You must be Massie. I've heard a lot of good things about you," Asala smiled back. It was then that Massie noticed her crazy purple lipstick. Was she friends with Layne Abeley? If she wasn't, then she should... Massie knew it was rude to think of, yet that was the whole point of having thoughts to herself. They were private. This was information that Asala Karman didn't need to know..though, it wouldn't hurt to give the girl a couple of fashion tips.

"Thanks. I've heard about you too. From Mr. Alcibur, of course," Massie said.

"Oh yeah, he's great. Mr. Alcibur looks over the paper and makes sure that everything's a-okay. He's like the main brain behind it, ya know?" Massie didn't. "Anyways, let me show you around."

Where? Massie saw the entire room, and other than what she had already looked at there wasn't much else to see.

But she was wrong. At the end of the room, just when you thought that it had ended, there was a little screen cover up that hid a whole entire hall with a Keurig, what looked like kitchen counters, stools, and cabinets. There was even a mini-fridge.

"This is our little brain storming idea, as well as a great place to come get coffee," Asala stood in the center of the "kitchen hall" (what Massie had decided to call it in her head).

"Wow. This is impressive," Massie admitted.

"Isn't it?" Asala proudly smiled. "Donnahue stole that Keurig himself."

"You did?" Massie whirled around to see Donnahe sheepishly smiling.

"It was a dare," the older boy explained.

"Don't act as if you didn't want to do it," Asala giggled. Donnahue blushed and exited the hall. Did they like each other? Massie smirked. Asala would have to get rid of the purple lipstick and take out her tacky highlights if she was willing to score Donnahue. Taking the image of the two senior writers out of her head, Massie followed Asala to a desk. On the desk was what looked like a new pad of pink sticky-notes. The first paper on the pad said her name. Massie was written out in all bold black Sharpie letters, with a little smile drawn on the end of the "E."

"Cute," Massie laughed. If she didn't sound like it, she meant it. She really did find it adorable how they wanted to make her "fit in" with the paper. The brunette alpha was so used to people wanting to fit in with her, and honestly it felt good for things to be the other way around. Not that Massie was begging to fit into the paper, oh no, but it was nice that the pressure wasn't turned on her for once. It was like starting over on the first day of school. She was just Massie, and just Massie was a concept she wanted everyone to accept.

"This will be your own personal work area. You have everything; paper, pencil, pen, erasers, staples, ink...you name it," Asala explained as she motioned to the drawers and what each held inside them. Massie sat on the chair and breathed in. It was something she was going to have to get used to.

"There's even gum," Donnahue pointed out.

"Cool," Massie grinned. Surprisingly, they were... _okay_. Asala did need some fashion tips, true, but even she hadn't gotten on Massie's bad side. Not yet anyways.

"If you look up there's our board where we come up with articles and article names, just other ideas and what not." Asala pointed to the side of the board where there was a list of names on a large paper. On the bottom, was Massie's. "These are all of our members and what they usually write for." She pointed. "See, I'm editor-in-chief. Donnahue is a senior writer, so we give him whatever gripping story we have. Lexi Olson does horoscopes, Olivia Radd is always writing about international news, Dexter does sports, Vincent Monroe is our go-to movie and music guy, and Xander is our little freshman photographer." Asala came to the very bottom of the list. "And then there's you! Our newest addition. Of course, we don't know what we want you to do yet but we'll find out soon enough."

Massie nodded her head, going along with whatever Asala said without a problem. It was a total shock for anyone to see Massie Block actually complying and following someone who wasn't herself, yet here she was. Lately she had an open-mind about things, and now she had to really try. It was nice letting someone else take the lead and just relaxing, yet this was something Massie wasn't used to, and something she'd definitely have to get used to. Asala was the leader now in this little paper-writing world, not Massie. Out there would be Massie's world yet in here it was Asala's, and from one alpha to another, Massie could respect that as well could she understand it.

"So...any questions?"

Massie had almost forgotten there were people in the room. Asala turned to her, a wide smile on her face. Donnahue leaned back lazily against another desk that was connected to Massie's. He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Nope. I think I'm good."

"Great! Let me give you your first assignment." Asala moved to the cubicle that Donnahue had called her out from to find something. Massie guessed it was probably a bunch of papers she was going to bombard Massie with.

Donnahue slid to lean against Massie's desk until he was looking down on her. Now looking closely to him, Massie realized he was pretty handsome, yet he was so not her type.

"Sorry about her. She's totally psycho about this paper. It's like, her life or something."

Massie titled her head. "O-oh, I wasn't put off or anything," she laughed and flipped her glossy brown curls to the side. "She doesn't make me nervous."

"Oh she should," Donnahue rolled his eyes in a joking manner. "Asala loves this newspaper more than her own parents."

"Oh..."

"Just joking girl," he smirked. The two shared an awkward laugh, yet even so Massie found herself somewhat warming up to Donnahue. He was interesting enough, and super friendly. Even so, Massie dind't want to get too close with him yet. She wasn't looking for another Dawson repeat...

"I'm back!" Asala announced as she emerged from her cubicle. "Aaannnnd, here you go," she threw a portfolio full of papers on Massie's desk.

Opening the portfolio, Massie was greeted with the face of Derrick Harrington smiling up at her in his burgundy red and navy blue Westchester Crusaders soccer uniform. Massie frowned. Maybe this would be a problem.

"What is this?" Massie basically sneered. She flipped through the papers and found a bunch of useless score sheets from games and even a miniature picture of Derrick in 7th grade, also in soccer jersey. She frowned. Seventh grade Derrick was the boy she dated back when she was a pre-teen. The Derrick in the other picture was a complete stranger.

"You're going to be doing the Derrick Harrington article. First junior ever to be captain? People want to read about him, and trust me when I say _a lot_ of people read our paper."

 _Really? I had never heard of it until this year..._

"Why me? D-doesn't that one guy do sports?" Massie squinted her eyes to the large list of names next to the board. "Some guy called Dexter Holliver."

"Well yes, he does, but as the new girl I want you to do the Derrick Harrington paper. I don't want another simple guy-to-guy interview where Dexter will suck up to Derrick and talk about how cool he is. Whatever. Lame. I want something gripping, _and_ I hear you've had history with Harrington. Makes it even more better for you to do the article."

"Or not! It makes it worst!" Massie argued. She stood. "I'm sorry I can't do this. Anything else and I will."

Asala frowned. Her eyes were filled with confusion. Massie could tell that nobody ever told the girl no in her little world, yet Massie was the alpha out there and she wasn't going to be told what to do by some purple haired _freak_.

"But you have to."

"Why?" Massie pressed. She had shoved the portfolio in Donnahue's hands, who thankfully stayed silent.

"B-b-because I'm editor-in-chief."

"Oh, cry me a river. I'm Massie Block, and I'm not writing that paper."

Now, Asala showed another emotion in her eyes. Anger. "Yes, _yes_ you will! You're the new girl here, not me. Oh, and frankly I don't care who you think you are. In this room you're a writer and I'm the boss."

"As if. You're not paying me," Massie spat.

"And if I was you'd totally be fired!"

"Great," Massie laughed, rolling her eyes. The pretty committee alpha crossed her arms and gave Asala a pointed stare. "Trust me when I say that you don't want to fight with me."

"Trust me when I say, you will write that paper."

"Oh, are you going to make me?" Massie guffawed at her remark. The bitchy-alpha that Massie was trying so hard to tame was coming out now, and for Asala it was coming out in the worst way possible. She was just lucky that none of the other pretty committee girls were around.

"I'll talk to Alcibur!" the pink/purple haired senior girl threatened.

"Amazing," Massie rolled her eyes.

Donnahue put himself between the two girls. "Okay, let's talk about this later?" He bit his lip and nervously handed back Massie the portfolio. "Please, just hold on to this Massie? Okay? Look over it and tell us what you think at the end of the day. Just reconsider."

She snatched it from him and shoved it into her MK purse. "Whatever."

Massie stormed out of the room, not even bothering to look back. For the first day of trying something new, it wasn't going so well.

xxx

 _Derrick_

(7:55 a.m.)

It was in homeroom that Derrick Harrington was reminded that homecoming was only two weeks away, and by no means was he prepared for it in the slightest.

First, he needed a date and even with all of the options he had (the entire female population of Westchester Prep), he didn't know who he wanted to take. It shouldn't be so hard. _He_ was Derrick Harrington after all, and girls threw themselves at his feet on a daily. Yet, for some reason he couldn't find it in him to pick a girl he liked enough to take as his Junior homecoming date.

He sighed, taking a hand and ruffling his wild golden mane. It had grown longer since the school year had started and he hadn't bothered cutting it. He'd cut it when they won the championship game. Derrick didn't even want to think of what would happen if they lost. That wasn't a thought he liked to put in his mind, especially after last year. He shuddered at the thought. Every time he thought of championships, his mind went to a blank and he started shaking a lot. He was like a ticking time bomb about to go off. Soccer meant the world to him. Derrick wanted to play when he was older. It was all that he ever wanted, and not to seem like the same stereotypical jock, but he couldn't see himself doing anything else. Soccer was meant for him. It was his passion.

But, as of now, the one thing he had to focus on was finding a date and that hadn't been going too well.

"Harrington, snap out of it. We're having an important discussion here," spoke the voice of Kemp Hurley, who indeed did take Derrick out of his thoughts. The golden haired boy blinked and stared up at his friends who were sitting on the desks around him.

"W-what?"

"We're talking about _your_ birthday party."

Derrick grimaced.

"That's not till like a month away," the soccer captain argued.

"Yeah, and yet it's' the most celebrated time of the year for everybody in this school. _And_ , we always get stuck planning it while your ass gets laid," Kemp groaned.

Derrick smirked. "You act as if that's a bad thing."

"That is for us," mumbled Cam, who was busy sketching something on the margin of his physics notebook.

Derrick laughed and playfully hit his friend on the shoulder. "You act as if you don't get action either Fisher."

"Well I'd rather sleep alone than with Olivia Ryan that's for sure," Cam sighed.

"That bad?"

"Very bad."

Josh chimed in on the conversation. "Word on the street is that Olivia has some kind of problem down south, if you catch my drift." Josh winked playfully.

"Great." Cam groaned and put his head down in his hands. " _Shit_."

Josh smirked. "I was just kidding..."

"Fuck you Josh!" Cam punched his friend on the shoulder. The rest of the boys laughed along to Cam's misery. "You guys suck."

"You'll forgive me," Josh leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head.

"Oh really?" Cam challenged. "And what makes you think that?"

"Because I'm gonna set you up with that new hot sophomore, Sarah West."

At this news, Cam smirked. "Well hey, I guess there is room for my forgiveness now."

"Fuck you guys, I've been trying to get with her for the past week!" Kemp grumbled.

"You already had Natalia Kirkman," Josh reminded him with a knowing look in his eyes.

"Yeah, and I'm already _done_ with Natalia Kirkman," Kemp argued.

"You're sick," Chris rolled his eyes, who had been quiet this entire time.

Derrick watched his friends with an amused expression on his face. It was almost like fate that they all had the same homeroom in Ms. Mortimer's class. Ms. Mortimer was some hot young teacher who taught history to the freshman. She was engaged to some rich Westchester business man though, so it was a huge wonder why she continued to teach at Westchester...

"Shut up Plovert. You act as if you wouldn't pine over Sarah West," Kemp scowled and crossed his arms.

Sarah West was a hot sophomore with platinum blonde hair and a piercing green eyes. She was super skinny and very tall. Many speculated that she was a model in Germany for a year, but Sarah denied it all. The rumor mill had it that she _did_ do a spread in _7teen_ magazine with Kendall Jenner, which she had no comment about. From what Derrick knew, she didn't really have a lot of friends other than some girl who wasn't nearly as pretty as her. Maybe she only hung out with her to feel better about herself...well, it wasn't as if she needed it. Even Derrick had to admit she was pretty hot. Yet, he didn't really have a thing for blondes. The only time he liked them was when he was drunk and when they were leaving his bedroom the morning after.

"How could you set me up with Sarah anyways?" Cam asked Josh, curious.

"I play travel baseball with her brother, Matt," Josh explained.

"Ah."

Kemp was still in a sour mood. "Well I hope you have fun with that slut."

Cam smirked. "The slut you want to sleep with you mean?"

"Yeah. That one," Kemp rolled his eyes, yet a smile was starting to toy on his face. The boy sat up suddenly and leaned in on their tables, motioning for the boys to lean it as well. "So, rumor has it that some girl was wrecked as Landon Crane's after party Friday night, and someone has pictures of her."

"Pictures?" Chris furrowed his brows in confusion.

"You know what I mean Plovert, don't try to act innocent," Kemp rolled his eyes.

"Poor girl," Derrick said.

"Do you know who it is?" Josh questioned.

"Nope. I heard from Fred at the quad, Fred heard from Casey Lawrence, Casey heard from some girl name Libby, and Libby found out from one of the DSL girl. I think it's DSL Cassandra."

"There's a Cassandra?" Cam asked.

"I dunno. I think so. Nobody really knows any of them other than Skye," Kemp said.

"Well, maybe I'll ask Skye if she knows," Josh offered up. "I mean, if one of the DSL Daters knows information then it had to come from Skye."

"That's it Hotz, I knew you'd make yourself useful," Kemp flashed a cheeky grin.

"Shut up," Josh sighed.

The bell rang, signaling 1st period. "Well," Derrick started as he got up, "As much as I loved this conversation, I've gotta run," he spoke sarcastically.

"See you later Harrington," Kemp waved.

"See ya second," Chris spoke before the boy wandered off out of the room.

"Bye," both Josh and Cam waved before heading out together.

Derrick sat for only a moment, gathering his things. Just then another figure sat down next to him in the seat that Josh Hotz had just occupied only a second ago.

Looking up, Derrick found himself staring at Gweneth Hemsworth.

Gweneth Hemsworth (or just Gwen) was a senior and was the girls' varsity soccer captain. Gwen was tall, built, long legged, super tan, and had short sunny blonde hair that came down at her chin. She was looked like a more athletic version of Tyra Collete from ' _Friday Night Lights_ '. Gwen was smart, pretty, and sporty, which to Derrick was absolutely perfect. When he was still a hopeless freshman, he had the biggest crush on Gwen and told nobody. She always seemed like she was in a different world. Fifteen year old Derrick had put her on a shiny gold pedestal... that is, until they became best friends.

After winning the championship game, Gwen and Derrick started talking and he found that instead of being smart...she had a smart mouth.

She laughed a great deal and was always cracking a joke, mainly in Derrick's expense. Soccer had made her strong and her 'playful punches' hurt more than when Derrick would wrestle his friends in a not so "playful" way. Gwen was fierce and got angry whenever somebody said anything against woman's rights (which she had _every_ right to be). Only a month after speaking, Derrick had made Gwen his "wing-woman" and she always scored Derrick with dates with the older senior and junior cheerleaders that she was friends with. At the time, she was just right behind Massie on his female best friend's list. Now obviously she was number one.

"You look like a mess," Gwen slid into the seat next to him, a smirk on her face.

Derrick sighed. "That's because I am. Practice ran till 9 last night."

"On a Sunday night?" she frowned, placing her chin on the back of her hand. At the moment, any guy would comment that she looked angelic. To Derrick, she looked as if she were about to nag him about something like she always did. Aaaannd, he was right. "It's a Sunday night Derrick. Surely even your coach would have some respect for that. You should be resting. Are you okay? I bet you didn't sleep right when you got home...ugh, you _know_ that's bad for you..."

Gwen went on and on and on, until Derrick realized that he had class to attend. He interrupted the nagging senior. "As great as this conversation has been, I really gotta run Gweneth."

She glared. Derrick smirked. He knew that she hated it when he used her full name. "Oh fuck you Derrick."  
"Maybe freshman year? Yeah you definitely could have done that then, but now? Nah, I'm good," he winked.

"Bye," she laughed. "Oh, and Derrick? Stop slacking and find yourself a homecoming date!" she yelled back to him as she began walking away, not even bothering to turn around.

He sighed. Maybe the universe was using Gwen to remind him to get a date. But who?

 _That's right_ , Derrick thought. _There's no one._

xxx

 _Massie_

(9:25a.m.)

"I can't believe that stupid, purple haired _freak_ thinks she can tell me what to do," Massie rolled her eyes as she snappily chewed her gum in French. Kristen sat next to her, picking at her finger nails.

The French room was soaked in yellow sunlight, and Mrs. Beaumont was sick. They had a sub and as usual the subs at Westchester did just about nothing. This wasn't such a bad thing for the students though, and especially not Massie who could use a period off work after the turbulent morning she had so far.

"Well, she is the head girl for the paper Mass," Kristen spoke. "I mean, you kinda do have to listen to what she says."

Massie rolled her eyes. Wasn't Kristen supposed to help? Right now, she was so not helping..

"Ugh. Whatever. I don't even care. This was a dumb idea," the pretty committee alpha huffed and crossed her arms. Across the room, Derrick Harrington sat with a group of guys. All the boys were on their phones and laughing like a bunch of wild hyenas. They were probably playing some game that Massie didn't bother wanting to know about. What she did want to know, was why her? Why was she of all people chosen to write the piece on Derrick Harrington? The entire school knew the two practically _hated_ each other, and recent events made these distasteful feelings more pronounced, yet Asala Karman thought it was a great idea to have Massie interview him.

Just. Great.

Not...

Massie groaned and slumped in her seat. Around her, students either worked on their French homework, work due the next period (probably), or they were on their phones doing who-knows- what. Massie was distressed. The last thing she needed in her life right now was an encounter with Derrick. Truthfully, she had been hoping to just ignore Derrick for the next two years until graduation. After that she had planned on only seeing him on rare holidays around town. But now? Well, this totally ruined Massie's plans (not like they were going to go through anyways). What made the situation worse? Kristen didn't care. In fact, it seemed like none of her friends cared.

When telling Dylan, she only got a shrug out of the grumpy red head. In the five minutes before 2nd period started, Claire played her usual "optimistic" card and told Massie to just do it. Was she a _Nike_ slogan? Of course she wouldn't "just do it." In fact, that was the complete opposite of what she wanted to do about the Derrick paper. The only other person Massie didn't ask was Alicia, and the Latina had been M.I.A since 1st period.

Massie frowned.

It was weird. No text, no call, no anything. There wasn't even some annoying freshman giassie decided not to stress sent over to Massie to tell her where Alicia was, which the Latina herself probably forced said young girl to find Massie and tell her of her whereabouts. Either way, M

She had to un-stress herself if anything. The alpha had just gotten her friendship back with Dawson, the whole barbecue scandal had finally blown over, and her parent's had laid off her back about her grade. To top it all off, she had finally accepted Mr. Alcibur's wishes to join the school paper...although _this_ did come back to bite her in the ass. The universe was so, _nawt_ on her side today.

Biting her lip, Massie decided to close her eyes. Taking a deep intake of breath, she kicked her legs up so she sat "Indian" style (as they called it in Kindergarten) on her desk chair.

 _Breath in. Out. In. Out. In. And out again._

Smiling, Massie thought to herself how grateful she was to her mother for forcing her into those weekend yoga classes for the past two years.

 _Happy life, happy Massie. Stress-free life, stress-free Massie. Non-Derrick life, non-Derrick Massie..._ the last part didn't make her smile, yet she forced one on her lips anyways.

"W-what are you doing?" she heard the confusion in Kristen's voice next to her. Massie kept her eyes closed anyways.

"Unwinding. I need to get rid of all the stress and bad aura in my life."

Suddenly her zen was disrupted when a hackey sack was thrown straight to her face, aimed right at her nose. Opening her eyes wide in bewilderment, Massie's head spun wildly to where the source of the sack had come from.

To her far left, Derrick Harrington and his wild pack of dogs (as Massie liked to call them) all stood in a circle. She made the inference that they were playing hackey sack before the sack itself slammed straight to her nose. His leg was up, probably the source of the kick. His eyes were huge and filled with surprise, almost as much as her own.

"Oh shit," a voice gasped next to the soccer captain. It was one of the soccer players. He broke into laughter. "Derrick just kicked that to Massie's face!"

Soon others joined into the laughter, but for once it wasn't Derrick. The boy alpha version of herself tried to tell everyone that he didn't mean it, but the laughter of the class was much louder and larger than his voice...but not as large as her embarrassment.

Massie's cheeks flushed to a bright shade of pink, no-red. She put her feet down and stared over to Kristen, whose mouth was wide open in shock.

"D-did he just?" the blonde's mouth started to quirk up into a small smile. Massie scowled.

"He didn't mean it," she mumbled.

Kristen raised a speculating brow. "Is this real life? You, Massie Block, are standing up for Derrick Harrington?" She smirked.

"No, I'm not," Massie argued back. "I'm just telling the truth." Around them, the laughter died.

"Whatever you say," Kristen said in a sing-song voice. "Who knows, maybe this interview won't be so bad after all," she winked.

Massie reached over and smacked her arm. "Oh shut up Kris."  
The blonde laughed, and the matter with the hackey sack was forgotten.

xxx

"You and Derrick Harrington?" Dawson's lips curved up into a smile as he leaned against her locker. It was the time between 3rd and 5th period, and Massie had just gotten out of her English class that she shared with Dawson.

"I know right. Isn't it horrible," Massie groaned as she shifted her weight to rest her books on her hip. She reached into her locker, touching a picture of herself and the other pretty committee girls. A smile reached her face, one that she had tried finding all day long since her meeting with Asala Karman. Pulling out her history book, Massie returned her English textbook back into the solid red matte painted locker.

When she closed it, Dawson was staring at her hungrily. Had he gotten a hair cut? He looked... _groomed_ today. Massie pondered if groomed was the right word to describe it but he did look very different since she had seen him over the weekend.

She smiled once again at the thought of Dawson and her in the car. Then yet, after all that her memory of Friday night was Alicia throwing up all the time. That night Massie didn't think the girl would stop. Now that she thought about it though, Alicia still hadn't called or contacted Massie at all. Where was she? Usually a text would be sent by now. Maybe a call? It was weird.

Massie bit her lip and scrunched her nose. This wasn't normal and Massie had to find Alicia soon before anything bad happened. Call it best friend-intuition, but Massie felt as if something were wrong.

Apparently, so did Dawson.

"What's wrong?" the much taller boy asked. He peered down at her with a worried glance in his eyes, much different from the lustful one he was giving her not too long ago.

"O-oh, I'm just worried about Leesh. That's all," Massie snapped out of her thoughts.

"I'm sure she's fine. Why? What's wrong?"

"Well...nothing really. Not yet at least! Knowing Leesh, she probably got into a fight over Twitter or something and is mentally preparing herself for the subtweets she's going to get in an hour or so," Massie laughed, playing off the fact that she really was nervous as to where her best friend was at.

Dawson grinned. His eyes were friendly, yet they always were. "I'm sure she's okay. You have nothing to worry about. Alicia's a big girl. She can handle herself."

"Right," Massie shrugged. _He was right_. Massie had to accept that. Dawson was right, Alicia wasn't in any trouble. Maybe her phone was off? No, it never was. Maybe she was sick? Yeah, that was possible. Her week end didn't prove to be fruitful for her anyways. Massie decided that was it. She was still a bit sluggish from her weekend events and the stress of the school year starting, as well as the fact that it was their Junior year (aka. the hardest year in high school), then she was just sick and probably faking throwing-up in the nurses office so she could go home.

What worried Massie though, now that she thought of it, was that Alicia wasn't really faking throwing up. If she was, well...she had plenty of puke from Friday night/Saturday morning. There was a good chance of all of that carrying over to Monday morning.

Massie sighed. She had to stop worrying. After all, she wasn't her mom or anything.

"You sure you okay?" Dawson asked as the two walked side-by-side.

"Fine," Massie nodded her head and smiled. She was telling the truth.

Then she saw Derrick walking towards them with his friends hanging around him like leeches. It was as if time stopped for a second, and Dawson wasn't with her as well was Derrick not with his own clique.

The two stared, and Derrick's eyes flashed to Dawson almost dangerously. The blonde haired boy bit his lip as he stared into Massie's eyes. Golden specks pooled into a deep chocolate brown. For a second, there was something between them.

It, indeed, only lasted a second.

Then it was over and they were back to being Derrick Harrington and Massie Block.

The two walked past each other without a glance spared.

xxx

 _Dylan_

(10:55a.m.)

It was hard trying to pay attention in American Studies II when all Dylan could think about was Clarissa Hastings, and how much she already hated her.

Clarissa Hastings was just a woman that Dylan didn't know yet. She knew her name, but could not put a face to it-yet, Dylan had already wanted to smash her pretty little head in.

She gripped her pencil forcefully, and ignored the pit in her stomach that filled of worry that Alicia Rivera wasn't in her seat next to her for 4th period history.

"What killed the Native Americans class?" Mr. Burns spoke loudly, with a clear yet very boring voice which made Dylan wonder how she hadn't fallen asleep yet.

"Americans," a voice answered. The class snickered.

"Very funny Mr. Brown," Mr. Burns dropped his eye lids to glare at whoever answered the question.

Dylan leaned her head down on her desk and sighed. Stupid Clarissa Hastings.

" _You'll like her a lot sweetie. She's great. Clarissa has traveled a lot...that's how we met! Oh, and you'll love her daughters. You'll all be like best friends! It's like another Jamie and Ryan for you."_

The pit in her stomach grew, and she felt faint.

If another addition to her life wasn't bad enough (and it was) the whole situation was made worse when her father had announced that Clarissa Hastings had two daughters. Great. Just was Dylan needed. Two girls who would try to grab hold of her father's attention. That was just what she needed.

She shut her eyes in hopes that this was all a stupid dream, and that she'd wake up and history would be over.

"Spanish!"

"Fruits!"

"Evil!"

"Killing!"

Her class members spat out answers left-and-right. She was pretty sure that they were guessing. Dylan looked up and across the room to Massie, who looked just as bored as she was. Maybe even more? Dylan hadn't spoken to the PC alpha in a while, and when she did it was only short words and "hello," "goodbye." Not much of a conversation.

"No, no, no, no, _no_. Class, please stop guessing and use your heads!" Mr. Burns shook his head forcefully.

Clarissa Hastings was a disease that needed to be rid of. Dylan glared down at her pencil, as if it were the disease-filled Clarissa that she needed to get out of her father's life.

"Disease," Dylan said suddenly, not even knowing that she had said it out-loud for the entire class to hear.

"Ah yes! Good job Ms. Marvil! Did you hear that class? Disease! That's what mostly killed the Native Americans!" he beamed at Dylan and went over to the chalkboard to write it down for the class to take notes on. "Oh, and Ms. Marvil. Please pick your head up. This isn't nap time in Kindergarten."

 _I wish_ , Dylan thought as she regretfully pulled her head up from her desk. If this were Kindergarten then she wouldn't have to worry about Clarissa Hastings or school and the ominous _college_ and _future_ that every kid her age started thinking about, despite whatever they said against it. Dylan sighed. If this were Kindergarten she also wouldn't have to worry much about weight. She had loved herself then and at the time it was enough for her. Why wasn't it enough now?  
Maybe that's why her dad was marrying Clarissa, she thought to herself bitterly as she copied down notes on the board. Maybe she was too fat for her father to love; so he had to find two perfect daughters to fill the void.

She had seen pictures of them. Not one of Clarissa, no, but her father had a small picture of two girls who looked almost like twins poking out of his wallet. To her dismay, the picture was right next to the one of Dylan and her sisters five Christmas' ago.

The girls were both blonde and tan and very much fit. They were twigs compared to Dylan, and they had sky blue eyes. Both girls looked as if they belonged on a _Maybeline_ commercial with their long, luscious lashes.

Letting out a big sigh, Dylan leaned back in her seat after putting her pencil down.

So what? Everybody had daddy-issues. Yet, it didn't seem real to her. Dylan, despite her parents' divorce, always had the perfect family. Even without her dad around all the time, his parents were on civil-grounds and Dylan got everything she wanted. Her mother was Merri-Lee Marvil for heavens' sake! Everything was going great for her. Now this? If Dylan didn't think her weight was a _big_ enough problem..

Peering up, she had only just realized that Massie was staring at her with almost pleading eyes. The alpha looked out the door and made the hand gesture for "bathroom."

Dylan bit her lip nervously. They hadn't talked in so long...

Sighing, Dylan stood and excused herself for the bathroom. Shortly after, so did Massie.

The pretty committee alpha rushed hurridly into the girl's 3rd floor bathroom.

"I'm freaking out," Massie groaned. Dylan raised a brow, but did the usual as all girls did when there was juicy gossip to be revealed in the bathroom-check the stalls.

Kicking each door open to reveal nothing, Dylan gave Massie the thumbs up to continue on.

"I'm worried about Leesh. I haven't seen her like all day long," Massie huffed, crossing her arms across her chest with a large frown on her face.

Dylan sighed. "Mass are you serious?"

"Well... _yeah_ ," Massie said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She spoke as if the two didn't have a mini-spat in the Range Rover last Friday night. It was weird..and so not Massie. Was everything in Dylan's life going upside down? And here she thought it was only her dad who was acting strange.

"I don't know Massie. Maybe she's just in a bad mood? It could be that time of the month."

Massie shook her head defiantly. "No, it can't be. She's always the same time around with her cycle as mine. _I_ shouldn't be getting it until next week...so that means that she can't either."

Dylan bit her lip in an attempt to hide the displeasure on her face. Why ask for her opinion then if Massie was only going to shoot it down?

"Honestly Massie, this is a waste of my time. I need to go back to class." Dylan attempted to push past her, yet the pretty committee alpha wouldn't budge.

"Wait," Massie grabbed Dylan's arm just as she was going to walk through the door. "Dyl...y-you're not mad at me right? I mean, like Friday night and all. You're not mad, I hope..."

Dylan gritted her teeth. Was she absolutely clueless. _Of course I'm mad Mass. I'm pissed, and you have no idea what's even going on in my life._ "I'm fine," she spoke bitterly. "Now let me go, I have class."

Frowning, Massie hesitantly obliged and let go of Dylan's arm. The red head rushed out of the girl's bathroom, not even bothering to look back at her "best friend."

xxx

 _Josh_

(12:10 p.m.)

"Hey Marge," Josh flashed a bright smile at his favorite lunch lady, Marge Ballack, or as the kids liked to call her, Large Marge.

Large Marge was a big robust woman of at least her late forties. She had charcoal colored hair and pasty white skin. Her eyes were a plain shade of brown and she was of a regular, boring height. Despite her appearance, her personality was pretty good (or at least that's what Josh thought) and she was always kind and giving to her favorite lunch room kids.

It was rumored that in her youth, Large Marge wasn't so large and in fact was super skinny as well as drop dead gorgeous. She won miss Westchester Teen in the town at the time, yet it didn't make sense to Josh that somebody who used to go to school at Westchester would come back and stoop so low as to become a lunch lady. Oh well. It didn't matter to him. As long as Large Marge kept supplying him with good food, he was okay.

With a parting wink, Josh was off and set to sit at the table. Surprisingly, the day had treated him right. He didn't have much homework and rumor had it coach was going easy on the boys today for practice because of how good they did Friday night. Smiling, Josh relaxed himself in his chair once seated.

Around him many conversations ensued but all he could think about was himself and the sandwich he was about to enjoy.

"So, Josh...we were all wondering..." Kemp spoke with a sly smile on his face before Josh could even take a bite of his ham and cheese sandwich. The dark haired boy sighed and put his sandwich down.

"What?" Hm. Maybe this day _was_ going on too perfectly.

"Are you taking Skye to homecoming? Because lemme tell ya, the broad keeps talkin' bout bringing some dumb college frat boy."

"Excuse me? What did you just call her?"

Josh was more intrigued about what Kemp had just called Skye other than the news presented to him. Well, that was a lie. Obviously he cared, but still...

Chris spoke after putting his coffee mug down. Damn, that guy drank easily four cups a day. "Don't listen to Kemp. He's being stupid."

"A broad is another word for female," Kemp explained as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"You're an idiot," was all Josh could say before picking up his sandwich again.

"A disrespectful idiot," Chris added before submerging his lips into his red mug.

"Whatever," Kemp rolled his eyes, dismissing his friend's comments. "So, know anything about this or not?"

"Not," Josh answered as he picked up his sandwich. And he so did _not_ care. But right before he could enjoy his lunch, a very angry Alicia Rivera stormed right up to him and slapped his right across his face.

Ouch.

It hurt like hell. Damn that girl could hit. Josh winced in pain and looked up at her in bewilderment, _and_ (though he'd never really admit it) fear. What the hell was wrong with her?

"FUCK YOU!"

There were tears streaming down her cheeks, which came as a surprise for Josh. If she hadn't slapped him just 5 seconds ago then he would have felt bad. But she did, and he _so_ did not feel bad.

Despite all the anger and confusion he was feeling towards the dark haired girl, all that came out of Josh's mouth was, "W-w- _what_?" He sat up, catching his breath.

"What the _fuck_ is wrong with you!?" he glared.

"I can't believe you fucked that slut! You lied to me!" the Latina basically growled.

"What the hell!" he raised his voice. What slut? Why did it matter who he slept with? They weren't together anymore. It had been so long since they dated.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" she cried.

"No I don't!" Josh yelled back. He was done being _'Mr. Nice Guy.'_

The entire cafeteria watched the scene unfold. From the corner of his eye he saw Derrick and Cam with trays filled with food, standing frozen in step with wide eyes of bewilderment. Massie Block and her table watched with open mouths. Apparently, they didn't know about their friend's "little outburst."

"Crazy bitch," Kemp didn't even try to whisper.

"You slept with Skye! You screwed that cow! You fucked her while you were with me!" Alicia was full on bawling her eyes out now.

What was she even talking about? Josh couldn't believe his ears. Did he sleep with Skye Hamilton? Yes. While still in a relationship with Alicia? Fuck no. She was his only one.

"I-," Josh tried to defend himself, but it was clear to him then that Alicia wouldn't even give him the chance to speak. She slapped him yet again, though to Josh's fortune it wasn't as hard as the first.

"You're a piece of shit Josh Hotz and I never want to speak to you again. Go fuck yourself."

The dark haired beauty stormed away, leaving Josh and the rest of he student body in the wake of her rage. Clutching his cheek, Derrick and Cam made their way over and patted his back.

"Damn Hotz, that's a lunch I'll never forget," Cam said.

His cheek stung but Alicia's words stung more. That was something Josh would never admit, obviously, but it was true. That hurt him more than anything it seemed. Frowning, Josh turned around to face the table.

The entire student body still watched with wide eyes, now all speaking about what they had just witnessed. Oh great. This was just what he needed.

He should have known the day was going a bit _too good_ for him. Josh frowned when he saw his sandwich had fallen to the ground. Fuck.

Oh well, that hardly mattered to him now.

He had bigger problems.

Besides, Josh had lost his appetite.

xxx

 _Massie_

(12:55p.m.)

It was aware to Massie now that Alicia Rivera did not think. Alicia Rivera acted upon impulse and left the rest of her friends to deal with the destruction in her wake.

...What a bitch.

"I can't deal with this right now," Massie tried her breath-in-breath-out exercises but none of them helped ease the stress she was feeling right about now. Kristen patted her back while Dylan tried once again to contact Alicia via phone call.

"Still not answering," Dylan responded after another one of her calls went straight to voice mail. Why hadn't she followed Alicia out? Massie was stupid. Instead of getting caught up with Asala, she should have been keeping a close eye out for Alicia. It was too late. Lunch was a blur, and the biggest of them all was Alicia's hand connected to Joshs' cheek, which revealed a hidden strength behind that lanky arm of hers. Massie bit her lip and groaned. Why was everything so complicated.

"I hate playing mother," Massie sighed.

"Well mommy, clearly baby Alicia has had a little tantrum. So what?" Dylan snapped. Massie tried her hardest to ignore her attitude towards her, yet for some reason she just couldn't shake it off like she usually did that whole first half of the morning.

The alpha smoothed down her skirt and gave Dylan an icy stare. She shrugged Kristen's hands off her back and crossed her own in front of her chest.

"Really Dyl? Right now? Right now is so not the time for you to mess with me."

Surprisingly, Dylan fired back. "Really? Right now Mass? Right now is _so_ not the time for you to be an even bigger bitch than you already are."

From the corner of her eye Massie saw Kristen's jaw drop to the floor. Or was it her own? Who cares. What Massie cared about was what came out of Dylan's mouth and how unapologetic the girl had seemed about it all. Massie knew that Dylan had been in a pretty horrible mood lately, but she didn't think she'd take it out on her _that_ bad.

"Way harsh Dyl," Massie frowned.

"Well sometimes life just isn't fair Mass," the redhead scowled then stormed out of the bathroom.

Rage boiled in the pit of Massie's stomach. How dare she? Dylan was so not getting away with this again.

Massie pulled herself away from Kristen and ran after Dylan.

"Dyl! Dylan!" she called through the halls, causing some teachers to close their doors.

After a while of scanning the halls, the pretty committee alpha found Dylan Marvil sitting with her hands in her face and evident tears rolling down to the floor.

She was hiding in a corner by the corridor where Massie's locker was located and suddenly all the anger she felt not too long ago was subdued at the look of her friend in tears.

"Dylan?" her voice was a much softer tone now as Massie looked down at her friend with sympathetic eyes.

The teary redhead looked up at Massie. She was sobbing wildly now, Massie saw, yet there was something wild and so naturally _pretty_ about the way she looked. The alpha bit her lip. She always knew that Dylan had problems with her image. She never thought she was pretty enough, but that wasn't true. Massie felt sorry for her. Everybody thought Dylan was pretty. The only person who didn't share this belief was Dylan herself.

"Dyl? What's wrong?" Massie sat down next to her, pulling her knees up to her face just as her friend was doing.

"N-nothing's w-wron-ng," Dylan tried to wipe most of the tears surroundings her face as fast as she could. This didn't help her at all.

"Oh c'mon Dyl. At least make up a better lie than that," Massie gave her friend a sad smile. "Tell me," she pressed. "What's been bothering you?"

The red head let out a pained sob. "H-h-he's getting m-marri-ied."

"Who?"

"Dad," she wailed.

Massie's heart broke just to look at her. "Oh Dyl..I'm so sorry." Massie held the red head in her arms and let her cry for a while longer.

Despite the tension between them, Massie was always going to be there for her and she knew that Dylan's dad was a rather sensitive subject for the Marvil family. Sighing, Massie hugged her friend tighter if that were even possible.

Yes they had fought and some words were said, but Dylan needed her. That's what friends are for.

xxx

 _Derrick_

(1:50p.m.)

"What a totally fucked up day Harrington," Gwen sighed happily as she kicked a soccer ball between the two. It was 8th period, which was gym for Derrick.

"You know for once it _wasn't me_ ," Derrick emphasized.

Gwen raised a speculating brow. "I guess you're right."

"Guess so?"

"I just always thought all the petty drama going on in your grade was always rooted by either yourself or Massie."

Derrick winced at the mention of _her_ name. No doubt Massie had something to do with all the drama today. Gwen was right, she always was involved in Westchester drama. But was Derrick apart of it too? Maybe he really was. After all...Gwen never lied to Derrick. She was brutally honest. That was one of the things that were so good about her. Gwen said what was needed to be heard, not what was wanted.

"So what are you? Team Massie or Team Derrick?" he asked with a bitter tone.

"Neither," Gwen laughed easily. "You're both pathetic."

"Ouch."

"Just saying. I like Mass and all but she's just as blind as you are."

Derrick furrowed his brows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It _means_ you two are absolute idiots. Dancing around each other waiting for the other to make a move isn't going to help anything you know."

"No I don't," Derrick rolled his eyes.

Gwen laughed with that usual carefree attitude she always seemed to posses. "Oh Derrick. One day you'll learn."

"Learn what exactly?"

Gwen held the soccer ball they were previously kicked round down in one spot with the heel of her foot. "You'll learn that acting like a cynic and pretending you don't care about her isn't going to work forever."

"Then it's a damn good thing I don't care about her," Derrick muttered.

"Sure," Gwen laughed. Her eyes held a look of wisdom but her smile was coy and playful.

Derrick stuck his tongue out and kicked the ball from under her. "Let's just pass."

"Consider the convo _dropped_ ," Gwem smirked.

For Derrick's sake they wouldn't have to talk about Massie Block again anytime soon.

xxx

Soccer practice, as usual, was brutal.

The boys had won Friday night, but barely. They had a game Wednesday then next week a Friday game. If they didn't get their "shit together" (as coach put it) then there would be no championship game and all of the hard work Derrick put into the team would all go to shit.

There was no screwing up. Derrick wouldn't afford that.

The previous events of lunch that day had caused a loss of appetite between himself and his friends, in which the boys usually always headed up to Herni's after practice to eat. Josh was definitely a miserable mess, Chris was quieter than usual, Cam was already pissed off at himself for screwing up Friday so there was no sense into talking to him, and Kemp was too busy trying to get laid (like always).

Once he made sure the locker room was empty, Derrick dried himself after his shower and put shorts and a Westchester Prep sweater on then headed over to a bench by the showers. Looking over his shoulder once more just to make sure nobody was watching, he pulled out a box of Marlboro Lights.

Lighting it up, Derrick inhaled deeply and after a few seconds exhaled the smoke into the hot moist air of the boy's locker room.

He amusingly drew his hand up to move the smoke away. He'd never admit it, but Derrick actually thought it looked kinda cool. It was like all of that modern alternative art. The smoke moved easily through the air. He whipped his fingers through it, thinking it made a "design" of some sorts.

Smiling, Derrick made it through three more drags until he heard footsteps behind him.

Turning his head to glance at who was behind him, Derrick was surprised to find Massie Block, who in return looked just as shocked as himself.

 _Shit._

 _xxx_

 _Massie_

Why.

Why, why, why was she doing this?

For the 50th time it seemed that day Massie smoothed down her skirt and cleared her throat before entering the boy's locker room.

Dawson had already left so Massie had no support for when she came face-to-face with Derrick.

She could only imagine how hard Derrick would be laughing. Just to think of the sight of Massie Block asking to interview Derrick Harrington? She almost stopped in place and turned around. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. But Massie was prideful and Massie had to prove herself to Asala Karman that she was good enough for the paper.

She could already hear Asala talking about her to all of those other kids in the newspaper club about how pathetic she was and how badly she didn't fit in.

Though she'd never admit it, Asala was right. Massie didn't fit in with that crowd, but damn Massie would never admit that. She was Massie Block. People begged her to be apart of their crowd. By the end of the semester, she'd have Asala Karman begging her to take over that pathetic newspaper. Maybe then they'd actually get business.

Massie laughed at how silly she was acting.

She was being such a child. _Just talk to him._ It wasn't that easy though. This Derrick wasn't the same one she had known all her life. This was Derrick Harrington the soccer captain, not the Derrick Harrington who used to come over her house after school and eat snacks while watching reruns of their favorite cartoon shows.

Massie would've smiled at the memory if she wasn't so nervous.

Deciding to just go down she felt her legs move despite herself and soon found herself among deep red and gray lockers. The benches were wet and the air was so hot and moist that she found it difficult to breath. Suddenly the cotton of her sweater was getting really itchy and she found the need to put her hair up in a pony tail.

Glancing around, there was no sign of Derrick.

She let out a sigh of relief. This was probably a sign that this whole newspaper thing and the whole article wasn't a good idea. Screw what Dawson, Mr. Alcibur, and her parents thought. She was so not going through with this.

Right before she turned to leave however, the smell of cigarette smoke penetrated her nose. Covering her nose, Massie winced in disgust.

Despite her better judgment Massie followed the smell to the showers.

There she was surprised to find Derrick Harrington all by his lonesome with his hair still wet, changed in clothes, and a cigarette in hand. She found him exhaling and playing with the smoke against his finger tips. Though she wouldn't admit it, Derrick looked kinda "cool" in the moment. He was like those 60's boys who smoked alone and brooded. He was like James Dean...but not.

Apparently Derrick noticed someone was in his presence and turned with a shocked expression on his face at the sight of Massie.

She felt her heart beat faster than it already was. In her head Massie kept telling herself to breath. Wasn't that supposed to be natural? She shouldn't be reminding herself to breath.

Without even thinking about it, she spoke first.

"You know those are bad for you."

"You know this is the _boy's_ locker room," he retorted, not missing a beat.

Massie crossed her arms, trying to ignore the itchy feeling of her sweater.

"What are you doing here Derrick? And w-why are you smoking that."

"Honestly? I don't know," was the boy's only answer. He dropped the cigarette butt down on the tile floor and crushed it with his foot. The boy stood and faced Massie. She suddenly wished he had just kept smoking and ignored her.

It was weird though. Derrick was always so healthy. Other than drinking at parties like every other high school kid did, Derrick's body was a temple. It had to be for soccer. He was dedicated, which is why it was such a surprise to find Derrick Harrington smoking of all people.

"What are you doing here Massie?" Derrick asked as he stood with his hands hidden safely in his shorts pockets.

"Honestly, I don't know."

He smirked. "Nice answer."

Massie rolled her eyes. There they go again, the same witty banter that would lead to absolutely nothing. "Actually I'm here for the paper..."

"Paper?"

"School newspaper."

Derrick laughed. He clutched his stomach and leaned against the wall, all the while not breaking eye contact with her. Was he insulting her? Of course he was. That wasn't even a question.

"Are you done laughing yet," Massie threw him an icy glare.

"Block, please tell me you're kidding."

"No I'm not asshole."

"What is this? Some pretty committee dare? If so, thanks but no thanks," he stood tall and proud again. She'd never understand that stupid ego of his. _He acts as if I haven't seen him cry before.._

"It's not a prank." Massie sighed and rubbed her forehead in frustration. It was already too sticky and hard to breath in here, and all she wanted to do was leave. "Do you know Asala Karman?"

"Think so. Purple hair?"

"Yeah her. Well, she's the senior editor and I'm basically being forced to write and my first assignment is to interview you. So there. Get it yet?" she tapped her foot impatiently.

Derrick crossed his arms. "Hm. Think so."

"And?" Massie pressed.

"Tell them to send someone else and I'll think about it."

Massie fumed. "Seriously? Real mature," she said in sickly sweet voice.

"I think we both know it wouldn't work," Derrick said as he picked up a box of Marlboro Lights and placed in back into his shorts pocket. "We can't even have a civil conversation together. An interview? Don't think so."

"Obviously I know that, _they_ don't." Massie sighed. "Are you really not going to help me?"

Derrick gave her a cold, hard stare. "Maybe I'd think about it if you weren't all over Jenkins."

"Oh, really?" It was Massie's turn to laugh. She looked psychotic. "Are you really still going on about Dawson fucking Jenkins," she moved closer to him. Derrick stiffened in place, looking uncomfortable at the small girl coming towards him. "Get over yourself Derrick. You're his captain not his father. He has a life outside of this too you know, and just because you don't doesn't mean these boys have to suffer for it."

"Suffer for it? If they like winning then they'll practice-with _no distractions_ ," Derrick countered. He moved in close to her too until the pair met with their chests heaving at a fast paste.

"Honestly I feel bad for you. You have no life outside of this, and even so you're ruining it with those," she motioned to the cigarettes hiding in his pocket.

"Whatever you say Queen Bee. At least I don't have to join some stupid newspaper club to make people think I have substance in me. The only thing you're good for is shopping and bitching people out. You're a drama starter Mass, always have and always will be."

"Me!? Excuse me but I tried to help Josh today! I tried to stop Alicia-"

"But you knew," he interrupted. "So you knew and couldn't warn Josh earlier?" he chuckled. "How pathetic. If you really wanted to stop it Massie you would have."

He moved away from her and sat back down on the bench. "Fuck I need another one," he muttered to himself.

Massie stood motionless. How could Derrick be so rude to her? Dawson was wrong. Asala and Mr. Alcibur and everyone else was wrong. This wouldn't work. Massie didn't have it in her to make it work and clearly Derrick would be no help to her.

"You were right," Massie said in a voice that was almost a whisper. "This wasn't going to work."

And with that Massie walked out and Derrick broke his rule of only one cigarette a day.

xxx

 _Alicia_

"I'm so fucked," Alicia Rivera whispered against her friend's shoulder.

After school Alicia headed to the mall in an attempt to find some peace of mind but that was to no avail.

Surprisingly she found Massie, who almost looked just as upset as she was.

Now the best friends were sitting against the wall of the dressing room in Alice+Olivia, with so Alicia crying onto Massie's shoulders.

After apologizing to Massie about not answering her texts that day, she had a long cry and finally stopped-only because she thought she had cried so much there were no tears left in her.

"Boy suck Leesh, its life," Massie said into the Latina's dark hair.

"They do. But that's not why I'm fucked..." Alicia admitted.

The raven haired girl pulled out her iPhone 6s from her maroon _Ralph Lauren_ backpack and scrolled through her messages until she found just the one she had been looking for. Turning the screen over for Massie to see, the pretty committee leader's mouth dropped open at what she saw on the screen.

A picture of Alicia naked with puke covering a majority of her body. The message came form Skye Hamilton and it read: _Imagine what Josh, let alone the whole school would think if they saw this ;)_

"Oh Leesh," Massie gasped.

"I told you. I'm _fucked_."


End file.
